280 A BEE HUNT 



The proof here is also less complete than in Carcinus, as 

 this Megalopa has not been observed to pass into the crab, 

 which from analogy it is to be inferred that it does ; for, not- 

 withstanding all the care that could be bestowed upon it to 

 keep it alive, it unfortunately died before this eventful period 

 arrived ; indeed, success is hardly to be expected in regard to 

 the marine species of Crustacea, as they require such a mass of 

 water, and such frequent changes of it, to preserve them but 

 for a few days. This may be considered one of the many 

 cases in which we are limited in our inquiries into the work- 

 ings of Omnipotence, and must remain satisfied and thankful 

 for what the Deity has placed within our power, and pleaseth 

 to reveal. 



Art. XXV. — A Tour in the Prairies. By the Author of 

 the Sketch-book. London: Murray. 1835. 



Sweet poet of America ! it is delightful to us to see thee 

 descending from the airy regions of fiction, and adorning, with 

 thy all but perfect pen, the simple history of fact. We despise 

 not fiction, but we positively reverence truth; and truth 

 recorded in a poet's language is perhaps the most satisfying of 

 all human productions. Irving and Cooper, the twin poets 

 of America, have infinitely exalted that great and rising coun- 

 try in the estimation of the literary world. Alike in vivid 

 imagination, in power of description, and in their scorn of the 

 trammels of rhyme, these poets have found favour, not only 

 with their countrymen, but with every one who understands 

 the language in which they write. Yet they differ : — Irving is 

 the more quiet, the more facetious, the more comic, the more 

 carefully precise, and excelling almost every writer in the 

 appropriate and harmonious collocation of words and syllables. 

 Cooper is the more bustling, the more exciting, the more 

 tragic, the more splendid. Reader! we are not deviating 

 from our path; we are consulting the welfare of Ento- 

 mology, in shewing thee that Washington Irving is an 

 entomologist. We shall extract the entire chapter, which 

 bears for its title — 



