528 EPIGRAM ON THE ARGONAUT. 



at years of discretion, to consecrate to Venus the play- 

 things of their childhood : 



" Once as a sailor-shell I sported o'er 

 The azure wave : but now on Smyrna's shore, 

 Cypris, I grace thy shrine the darling toy 

 Of fair Selene and her childhood's joy. 

 If wandering winds breathed soft, my tiny sail 

 Was duly spread to catch the summer gale : 

 If golden calm upon the waters came 

 My nimble feet were oars ; and hence my name :* 

 I cast myself on Julis' shore, that thou 

 Mightst glory, Cypris, in the maiden's vow. 

 No radiant Halcyon now with azure crest 

 Will seek my chambers for its sunny nest. 

 Thank fair Selene, then, whose virtues grace 

 The city of her proud .ZEolian race." 



Becalmed off the African coast, some hundred miles 

 from the land, large numbers of insects were perceived 

 floating on the surface of the water, some Acrydia and 

 Locusts being still alive. A large species of Colymbetes 

 was taken quite perfect ; but other singular forms, as 

 Coreus, &c., were more or less injured by the action of 

 the water. These were blown by the off-shore breeze, 

 most probably from flat, sandy tracts, where there is but 

 little shelter and few trees. More than one species of 

 Halobates was seen swimming on the calm water, in the 

 manner of Gerris and Geometra, by sudden jerks. This 

 insect however appears, if not pelagic, to be at least 

 altogether marine. 



* Polypus many-footed. 



