Dec. 19, 1884.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



499 



new piece sball be a trifle larger than tte old, ar.d in this ' 

 way the case itself gradually grows and keeps pace wiih 

 the requirements of its owner. Sometimes, however, espe- 

 cially after a moult, the caterpillar literally " turns over a 

 new leaf," discarding the old case, and starting afresh with 

 an entiiely new outfit. Inside the rejected abode may be 

 found the cast skin, stretched out at full length along the 

 door, and attached by some silken thread;-'. The chrysalis 

 is formed inside the case, and -vihen about to assume this 

 •■-tate the larva is obliged to moor its dwelling to some plant, 

 for it would be far too dangerous to leave it floating about 

 with its precious freight, the tport of winds and waters. 

 Most of the above particulars apply specially to the larva 

 of Ilydrocamjia injmpliralis, a species rather larger and of a 

 browner colour than II. stagnalis, but in other respects very 

 similar to it. 



(7'o he conlinucd.) 



POLITICAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 



By Eichard A. Pkoctor. 



HA.VE had an opportunity of noting what Americans 

 have described to me as absolutely essential to a right 

 understanding of the dignity of freedom in America — the 

 jirogress of a Presidential election. Let me try to record 

 ihe impression which this event has produced on an 

 Englishman who certainly views American institutions 

 with no unfriendly feelings — nay, i-ecognises as in progress 

 here the most hopeful attempt at self-government in which 

 any great nation has ever been engaged. 



In the first place, the fact is forced upon one nio&t 

 emphatically at such a time that the best Americans keep 

 out of politics, so that the nation is obliged to select her 

 chief officers from an inferior class. The very name 

 " politician " has long been akin here to a term of reproach. 

 I have even heard men described as " mere politicians and 

 scallawags '' as if one term were about as contemptuous as 

 the other. For this the persons responsible are those " best 

 men in America " who avowedly avoid the political arena 

 for more or less selfish reasons. They could, if they would, 

 keep the inferior men out. 



Secondly, one cannot but notice that while in the heat 

 of a Presidential contest, the most virulent abuse is poured 

 on the rival candidates, while every offence in their poli- 

 tical or private career is displays . and exaggerated ; and 

 while words of the foulest sort are applied to them, there is 

 a disposition (scarcely less unworthy) to forget altogether 

 after election the known defects or evil proclivities of the 

 men selected for high offices. I have before me as I write 

 a paper in which the offences of one of the Presidential 

 candidates have been abused for months in terms implying 

 that a gaol rather than the White House at Washington 

 would be his proper place. But the election being now 

 over, this very paper speaks of the contest as a friendly 

 and fraternal one. Again, consider the election of 1880. 

 Few names are now professedly held in higher honour in 

 America than that of President Garfield. His career 

 from Log Cabin to White House is followed by young 

 Americans with nearly as much admiration as the career 

 of a Washington or a Franklin. Doubtless, something of 

 this is due to the circumstances of his death, which were 

 such as to excite the sympathy of the whole nation, and 

 so to disarm adverse criticism. But ask any tiuthful 

 American — Democrat or Republican — what was really 

 Garfield's record before he became President, and you find 

 it that of a man with whom no honest statesman in Eng- 

 land would have associated. He had accepted for 5,000 



dollars the" duty of attorney in an important matter 

 brought before a committee at Washington, of ivMck A; 

 was himself chairman, and the decision of the committe3 

 had been set aside for this canse by a court of justice, no 

 appeal being made, cr indeed possible, against a decision 

 which in England would have been utterly fatal to his 

 reputation. It was clearly proved, again, that on another 

 occasion he had received a bribe of 326 dollars — so clearly 

 that his friends could find no other defence than that " he 

 did not know better." All this and more was brought 

 against Garfield while the election was pending, with cus- 

 tomary exaggerations and intensifications, and abuse such 

 as we in England can hardly imagine. This was an ex- 

 treme fault on one side, but surely it was an extreme fault 

 on the other side that his election to the Presidency 

 (imagine its being possible) should cause men to forget all 

 this, and a still more serious fault that because his death 

 chanced to have been brought about in a most tragic and 

 painful way, his career should be held up as an example to 

 young Americans. Neither exaggerated abuse nor mis- 

 applied applause is worthy of a great nation of grown 

 men. — Nciccastle Weekly Chronicle. 



A MARVELLOUS LITTLE STREAM. 



AT a distance of thirty miles south of the River 

 Diamante our route passed by a natural object of 

 considerable interest — a stream, or rather rDl, of yellowish 

 white fluid like petroleum issuing from the mountain side 

 at a considerable height, and trickling down the slope till 

 lost in the porous soil of the valley below. The source 

 from which it flowed was at the junction where a hard 

 metamorphic rock, interspersed with small crystals of 

 agnite, overlay a stratum of volcanic tufa. It was formed 

 like a crater of a volcano, and full of black, bituminous^ 

 matter, hot and sticky, which could te stirred up to the 

 depth of about eighteen inches. 



Floundering in it was a polecat or skunk {Mephitis 

 various), having been enticed to its fate by the desire of 

 securing a bird caught in the natural bird lime, till a bullet 

 from the revolver of one of the party teiminated the skunks 

 struggle to extricate himself from the warm and adhesive 

 bath in which it was helplessly held captive. The overflow 

 from this fountain was, as described, like a stream of petro- 

 leum two or three feet wide, trickling over a bed of pitch 

 or some such substance, which extended to a much greater 

 width along the edge of the running stream at its contact 

 with it. The material was of a very sticky nature, becoming 

 gradually harder as it spread further out, assuming the 

 appearance of asphalt when it became mingled with the 

 loose sand of the adjoining soil. 



While engaged in examining this natural curiosity, we 

 came upon two small birds, caught in the sticky substance 

 at the edge of the stream ; they were still alive, but upon 

 releasing them both the feathers and the skin came off 

 where they had come in contact with the bituminous matter, 

 so that w e had to kill them to put an end to their sufferings. 

 No doubt they had been taken in by the appearance of 

 water which the stream presented and had alighted t^ 

 drink, when they discovered their mistake too late. Theij, 

 fate suggested the idea that in a district so devoid of wate 

 others of the feathery tribes must constantly become victim 

 to the same delusion in a similar manner, and upon a clcs ■ 

 inspection of the margin of the stream the correctness o - 

 this inference was established by the discovery of numerous 

 skeletons of birds imbedded in it ; nor were those of smal 

 quadrupeds unrepresented, among which we recognised the 

 remains of a fox. — South American Traveller. 



