, 536 I AssKMBL-y 



By u report to the British Parliament in 1845, it appears that the 

 value of the .Agriculture alone of that little spot, in one year, was 

 three thousand millions of dollars ; and taking out four winter inOnths, 

 then we have in eight months, from that God blessed national workj 

 JlgricuUure, as'much value as Spain derived in 72 years from the 

 gold and silver, and the destruction of some seven millions of men. 



About the year IbOO a new era commenced, that which bore the 

 art of printing, the discovery of America, and of many portions of the 

 Old World also, and re-discovery of those magnificent arts of antiquity, 

 most of which we cannot equal, and seldom succeed even in copying. 

 Spain is believed to have been almost mortally wounded by those 

 streams of gold ; it is yet doubtful if she ever recovers from it. But 

 those nations who got all this gold from her, have been steadily ad- 

 vancing in wealth, population and power ; so that poor Spain seems to 

 have suffered all the punislunent, while her neighbors have benefitted 

 by it. 



INSECTS. 



H. Meigs.— At the last meeting of the club, I spoke of the three 

 stages of insect life, from the larvae to imago. Of the latter which 

 is the perfect creature and capable of reproducing its race, I propose 

 to say a few words. In the first place, let us consider the dress in 

 which the creature is seen as an imago. Great numbers of the Coleop- 

 tera, (shelly covered wings) appear on close examination, and the more 

 highly magnified by microscope power, the more gorgeous does their 

 armour appear. All the splendour which can be furnished by coats of 

 burnished steel, copper, brass, gold or ivory or ebony or cobalt or 

 ultramarine blue, or that glorious changable colour of green and gold, 

 appear on this colepter race. As to the butterfly, all acknowledge the 

 royal splendor of its robes ; but those who have not seen it in high 

 magnified condition, do not know how surpassingly glorious it is, when 

 compared with man, or any robe he ever wore 



Even the poor blue bottle fly, presents a dress of burnished cobalt 

 of inimitable beauty. There is little doubt that all the precious min- 

 erals are elaborated to provide these insect knights with then: imperial 

 armour ; nor is it to be denied, that diamond is used in the equipment 

 of many of them. 



