23 TIMES AND SEASONS. 



appears easier than to box it ; but, lo ! just when the tra^i 

 is over it, it glides slily to one side, and leaves you in the 

 lurch. But what is this moth of commanding size and 

 splendid beauty, its Mnd wings of the most glowing crim- 

 son, like a fiery coal, bordered with black ? Ha ! the 

 lovely " bride ! " If you can net her, you have a beauty. 

 A steady hand ! a sure eye ! Yes ! fairly bagged ! And 

 now you may contentedly go home through the dewy 

 lanes, inhaling the perfume of the thorn and clematis, 

 watching the twinkle of the lowly glowworms, and 

 listening to the melody of the wakeful nightingales. 



It is always interesting to compare with our own expe- 

 rience pictures of parallel scenes and seasons in other and 

 diverse lands, drawn by those who had an open eye for the 

 poetical and beautiful in nature, though not in all cases 

 strictly naturalists. Here is a night scene from the sum- 

 mit of the Niesen, a peak of the Central Alps, nearly 8000 

 feet above the sea level : 



" I would gladly give my reader an idea of the solemn 

 scenery of these elevated regions, during the calm hours 

 of a summer night. As to sounds they are but few ; at 

 least, when the air is still. The vicinity of man, pro- 

 ductive in general of anything but repose, has caused 

 almost profound silence to reign among these wilds, 

 where once the cautious tread of the bear rustled nightly 

 among the dry needles of the pine forest, and the howl of 

 the wolf re-echoed from the waste. As I stood upon an 

 elevated knoll wide of the chalet, through whose inter- 

 stices gleamed the fire over which my companions were 



