INSECT DIRGE-PLAYERS. 



" Dreamed I, around us viewless spirits dwell, 

 To tune our minds and consecrate our thoughts." 



IN the joyous spring-time we devote a few words to insect 

 Minstrelsy (that of the joyous kind), with its associate sounds, 

 real or fancied ; and, as set in motion by their spirit-stirring 

 influence, we imagined "a dance of life" made up of associate 

 images mingling in a merry maze before the mental eye. But 

 where are the cheerful things of earth without their gloomy 

 counterparts ? where the budding springs without their fading 

 autumns ? and in this, the autumnal season, let us see if there 



