LOVES OF THE INSECTS. 309 



In the ^ Tour round my Garden,' the editor, 

 or author, describes an insect on the ^^leaf of a 

 2:>each-trec of the size of a grain of millet-seed," 

 page 208, from which source he deduces a would- 

 1)0 illustration of ^'what the Romans required of 

 woman, to spin her wool and keep her house"; 

 but such references in purple, to my mind, are 

 beside the mark, and I will not be led to follow 

 the reverend reviser into the outward and visible 

 signs of scholastic study, — mine is an unvarnished 

 tale, and I only speak of what / hiow. On one 

 occasion I had shot, quite on the outside of tlie 

 manor, a fine cock pheasant, in splendid condition, 

 and the bird was known to have haunted that 

 spot for some time. I had not fed artificially in 

 the places of his resort, alid it was too late in 

 the winter for there to be any superfluous grain 

 left about the arable lands ; there were no acorns 

 in the vicinity, nor beech-masts, yet still tlie 

 bird was fat. There did not seem to be much 

 of anything in his crop, and what tliere was 

 seemed soft to the touch — not like grass nor 

 turnips, but clammy, and of a close substance. 

 On inspecting the crop, it contained tlio small, 

 very small, blister-looking spot that may be found 



