GERANIACE^-GERRIS. 



acaly appendages of the beetle, but to its residence in 

 dung, and, consequently, that we should read it the 

 shard, or dung-born beetle, instead of the shard or 

 elytra-borne beetle. 



But Shakspeare has elsewhere spoken of these 

 beetles with the same epithet. In Cymbeline, Act 

 III., scene 3, Belarius comes out of his cave in a 

 rock, and says 



" We house i' the rock 



And often to our comfort shall we find 

 The sharded beetle in a safer hold 

 Than is the full-winged eagle." 



Now, singularly enough, this passage is capable of 

 being read with a similar double signification, both 

 with reference to a covering by scales or elytra, and 

 a lodging in dung ; thus the interpretation given to 

 this passage by Steevens, Malone, Holt, White, and 

 Archdeacon Nares, is, the beetle covered by elytra 

 is safer, as opposed to the full wings of the eagle ; 

 whilst by Toilet (who supports the interpretation of 

 the word shard into dung), the humble earthly abode 

 beneath dung of the beetle, is opposed to the lofty 

 eyry of the eagle. 



With all due deference, however, to these learned 

 commentators and naturalists, we are inclined to be- 

 lieve that in their attempts to illustrate their author, 

 they have laboured to show the extent of their own 

 researches, rather than studied the passages in which 

 these words appear, and endeavoured, by such study, 

 to trace the application of such passages. With this 

 object in view, let us therefore now examine the 

 words of our author, whose wonderful knowledge of 

 the English language was such, that he would neither 

 make use of useless words, nor yet employ right words 

 in wrong places. 



The murder of Banquo was perpetrated previous 

 to the evening feast. Macbeth, therefore, alludes to 

 the period when it should take place, by speaking of 

 the flight of the bat, and naturally connecting it with 

 another twilight-flying animal, adds the passage in 

 question, which we interpret, " The beetle flying with 

 raised scales, and making u drowsy hum during its 

 flight, tolls a natural curfew bell." If we were to 

 adopt the other interpretation, we should find nothing 

 to indicate the .flight of the beetle. Whilst, on the 

 other hand, the word shard born, i. c. born in dung, 

 would be an useless surplusage. 



In like manner, in the other passage we find Shak- 

 speare's knowledge of the habits of this insect still 

 more perfect, since, instead of regarding it, with 

 Steevens, &c., as applying only to the safety of the 

 beetle, in consequence of its scaly covering, as con- 

 trasted with the extended wings of the eagle, or with 

 Toilet, as applying only to the underground abode of 

 the beetle, we read the passage, having at the same 

 time regard to the residence of Belarius in a cave, 

 thus, " The beetle, with its wings folded up beneath 

 its scales, is safer in its burrow in the ground than is 

 the full-winged eagle." Is it possible for a finer simile 

 to be employed ? Belarius himself, a banished noble- 

 man, living as an obscure peasant, deprived of every 

 wordly greatness, comparing himself with the monarch 

 who had banished him. The one leading a life of quiet- 

 ness in a cave, the other of constant turmoil and alarm 

 on a throne. But there is still another passage, which 

 we shall quote. In Antony and Cleopatra, Act III., 

 scene 2, Agrippa, speaking of the love of Lepidus for 

 Caesar and Antony, says, " Both he loves ;" to which 

 Enobarbus adds, " They are his shards, and he their 



629 



beetle ;" i. e., their love is so reciprocal that theymay. 

 be said to be as much a part of the same body as are 

 the elytra upon the back of a beetle. Any other in- 

 terpretation of this passage, in favour of the employ- 

 ment of the word dung for shard, would be ridiculous 



The shard borne beetle. 



Mr. Stephens has described ten species of this 

 genus as inhabitants of this country, but it is possible 

 that a few of them may be varieties of the others. 



GERANIACE^E. This natural order is divided 

 into two tribes, and contains five genera and above 

 300 hundred species. They are innocuous plants, in 

 general slightly acid, and sometimes also astringent ; 

 hence a few have been used as astringents and vul- 

 neraries. They are also more or less fragrant, secret- 

 ing resins and essential oils : in some the secretions 

 are so abundant that, in the Sarcocaulon L'Heretieri, the 

 stems burn like torches, and yield a most agreeable 

 perfume during their combustion. The roots of G. 

 maculatum are used, when boiled in milk, as a remedy 

 for the diarrhoea in children ; and at Philadelphia it 

 is in great repute. Erodiwn cicutarium and moscha- 

 tum are also sometimes employed as aromatic bitters, 

 and Pelargonium cucullatum as an emollient ; from P. 

 odoratusimum a fragrant essential oil has been dis- 

 tilled, said to resemble the ottar of rose, or at least to 

 be as agreeable as it, and the under-ground tubercules 

 of P. hirsutum are esculent, and are prized as food by 

 the Arabs ; but, notwithstanding their several do- 

 mestic uses, the Gcraniacece are chiefly esteemed for 

 the beauty of their flowers, being deservedly great 

 favourites, and some of the most fragrant and admired 

 denizens of our greenhouses and gardens. 



GERRIS (Latreille). A genus of hemipterous 

 insects, belonging to the section Geocorisa, and family 

 HydrometridcB. The body is long and narrow, the 

 antennae half the length of the body, and four-jointed, 

 the rostrum four-jointed, the second pair of legs 

 "inserted at a considerable distance from the anterior 

 pair, and very long. This genus, although introduced 

 into the section Geocorisa, or land-bugs, owing to the 

 structure of the antenna?, is aquatic in its habits ; 

 from the true Hydrocorisa, or water-bugs (Nepa, &c.), 

 its long antennae, and the want of ciliated hairs to the 

 legs, as well as its inability to live under water, suffi- 

 ciently distinguish it. By every one who has had an 

 " eye to nature" these insects must have been observed, 

 gliding along the surface of water with great agility, 

 by oft-repeated strokes of the long slender legs, turn- 

 ing in all directions, and seizing upon every smaller 

 insect which may happen to fall in their way. The 

 form of the body resembles that of a London wherry; 

 and on examining more minutely the structure of the 

 insect we shall find it admirably adapted for the per- 



