AUGUST. 219 



On the gay bosom of some fragrant flower, 

 They, idly fluttering, live their little hour ; 

 Their life all pleasure and their task all play, 

 All spring their age, and sunshine all their day." 



A less agreeable insect begins to annoy us by its presence 

 about the end of this month, belonging to the genus 

 Stomoxys and the order Diptera. The species are small 

 Flies, which frequent the windows of our rooms late in the 

 summer, particularly when the weather is damp ; they 

 greatly resemble the common House- Fly, but are broader 

 in form, and the proboscis is capable of giving a sharp 

 wound, from which circumstance it has been commonly 

 supposed that the Domestic Fly stings in the autumn ; but 

 the species is totally different. The specific names suf- 

 ficiently testify their teasing propensity, stimulans, pun- 

 gens, and irritans being members of this genus ; the 

 Stomoxys calcitransis the most common. 



The Tortoise Beetles, or Cassidce, are an interesting and 

 peculiar family, both from their form and habits ; there are 

 about twenty species in England, but of a small size com- 

 pared with those of Brazil, which are often armed with two 

 erect spines rising on the centre of the elytra, meeting 

 together and forming an acute horn nearly half an inch in 



