214 UP AND DOWN THE BROOKS. 



perish except one, and that is the bee-fly," says the 

 Koran. I know not whether the writer of that 

 sentence meant Syrphus. I doubt it, but surely 

 that useful insect deserves to live longer than 

 many others. Not for such as it should be such a 

 " Papal Cursing Bell " as that which Horace Wai- 

 pole on Strawberry Hill kept for a curiosity, the 

 bell being that made by Benvenuto Cellini for 

 Pope Clement VII., and being formed of silver, 

 carved outside to represent serpents, flies, grass- 

 hoppers, and other baleful creatures that were to 

 be warded from the lands of the faithful. I trust 

 that the old Popes were versed in entomology, and 

 never banned the Syrphidce or like useful crea- 

 tures. 



If the ecclesiastics trusted entirely to the ob- 

 servations of country folk, however, in discrim- 

 inating between insect foes and friends, I much 

 fear that mistakes were sometimes made, or else 

 the people of those days were brighter than per- 

 sons now. For it sometimes takes a deal of look- 

 ing to know friends from foes, especially if the 

 looker has no books to help him in the search. 

 And yet a friend of mine once told me that she 

 had been in farm-houses in the country where she 

 saw Reports of the Department of Agriculture, 

 containing information about insects that farmers 

 ought to be acquainted with, sold for old paper ! 

 Surely such people deserve all the insect enemies 

 that come to see them. 



