Mus] AND SYMBOLS. 235 



of a golden yellow. The thorax is dark blue and very brilliant, 

 with gay reflections of purple. The wings are transparent, yet 

 prettily tinged ; their margins as well as the feet are black. 

 This innocent-looking insect is very beautiful, yet it is an 

 assassin. M. Coquerel has informed us that it sometimes 

 occasions the death of those wretched convicts who have been 

 transported to the distant penitentiary of Cayenne. When this 

 fly gets into the mouth or nostrils it lays its eggs there, and when 

 they are changed into larvae, the death of the victim generally 

 follows. The larvae are lodged in the interior of the nasal 

 orifices and the frontal sinuses, and their mouths are armed 

 with two very sharp mandibles. They have been known to 

 reach the ball of the eye, and to gangrene the eyelids. They 

 enter the mouth, corrode and devour the gums and the entrance 

 of the throat, so as to transform those parts into a mass of 

 putrid flesh, a heap of corruption. What an emblem are these 

 of the pleasures which, in an unsuspicious form, are apt to 

 fasten themselves upon man beautiful in appearance, yet 

 ruinous in result ! L 



Music a Natural Inspiration. 



The song of the birds must be the expression of some senti- 

 ment ; they surely sing as much for their own pleasure as to 

 charm those who listen to them. When they fill the woods 

 with their melodious accents, they direct their looks on all 

 sides, as if proud of their talents, and desirous of gathering the 

 tribute of admiration to which they feel themselves entitled. 

 Their song varies with the season ; but it is in the early spring 

 their efforts are the most successful and we are most disposed 

 to admire the beauty and harmony of their voices. Can any- 

 thing be more delicious than the warbling of the linnet, the 

 piping of the goldfinch, slowly swelling from the leafy bower, 

 or the melodious cadence of the nightingale as it breaks the 

 silence of the woodland during the serene nights of leafy June ? 



RE. 



