x CONTENTS. 



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her listening antennae to the quarter whence the strains proceed. The 

 light guitar furnished to the amative Gryllus by Fancy, ranks not 

 more properly as an instrument of music, than does that organ of 

 sweet sounds, the gift of nature, which he plays on at nature's 

 bidding . ,*..'.,.. - 87 



13. A DEFENCE OF WASPS .... . . . . .88 



"A widowed winter -survivor." Portrait of a notable insect charac- 

 ter, a widowed Wasp, one of the few forlorn winter-survivors of a 

 populous summer colony, and the destined foundress of a future 

 spring settlement, weeping over the remains of a defunct partner, 

 deposited in an acorn-shell 95 



APRIL. 



14. THE ROYAL REFORM,- BEES AS A BODY POLITIC . 96 



" The aged Professor of the Mesmeric art." A youthful Queen-Bee 

 under the benevolising operation of a mesmerising Nurse-worker of 

 her race, a practitioner in Phreno-magnetism : an allegory of the 

 curious process of conversion in Bee Queen-making, discovered by 

 Schirach in his "LaReinedes Abeilles" 103 



15. MOTHS AS DESTRUCTIVES 104 



" Two Moths still lingered." Moths of the Banners of the tale, illus- 

 trating by the armorial bearings on the wings of one, and the 

 equipage on the wings of the other, the two consuming principles of 

 Pride of Birth and Pride of Show Ill 



16. WATER DEVILS 112 



" He rows with infinite speed." A Boat- Fly punt, with crew of dia- 

 bolic aspect, queer and cruel, fit passengers for Charon's ferry-boat. 

 The captive of the party with uplifted arms represents a young and 

 imperfect Water Scorpion, and the shadowy imp employed in the 

 erection of the flag, exhibits the linear form and piercing proboscis 

 of the Water- Measurer. In the head of the rower is depicted that 

 of the aquatic larva of the Dragon-Fly, with face concealed by a 

 natural mask capable of being depressed or raised, shut or opened at 

 pleasure. Of the passengers seated near the prow, one has a nearly 

 similar visor, whilst the female is invested with the features of the 

 Boat-Fly, resembling those which form the figure-head of the boat 119 



17. BUTTERFLIES IN GENERAL ... . . . . 120 



" In her Jiours of supposed privacy." The painted Lady Butterfly, 

 Cynthia Cardui, whose Memoirs deserve a volume to themselves, if 

 only for the moral they teach, 



