340 RANDOM THOUGHTS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 



Art. XLIV. — Random Thoughts on Entomology, Sfo. 

 By J. W. Douglas. 



" O Nature, holy, meek, and mild, 

 Thou dweller on the mountain wild; 

 Thou haunter of the lonesome wood, 

 Thou wanderer by the secret flood ; 

 Thou lover of the daisied sod, 

 Where Spring's white foot hath lately trod ; 

 Finder of flowers fresh sprung and new, 

 Where sunshine comes to seek the dew ; 

 Twiner of bowers for lovers meet ; 

 Smoother of sods for poets' feet ; 

 Thrice-sainted matron ! in whose face, 

 Who looks in love will light on grace ; 

 Far worshipped goddess ! one who gives 

 Her love to him who wisely lives; 

 O, take my hand, and place me on 

 The daisied footstool of thy throne ; 

 And pass before my darkened sight 

 Thy hand, which lets in charmed light ; 

 And touch my soul, and let me see 

 The ways of God, fair dame, in thee." 



From my earliest years I have been a lover of nature, 

 and the study of her various forms and features has always 

 been to me a source of great delight. When but a boy, I 

 have many a time wandered in the fields, admiring the 

 beauties spread around me, and I look back on those hours 

 as some of the happiest of my existence. And so it must 

 ever be : the observation and examination of nature must 

 always be productive of the purest pleasure. 



Who, then, convinced of this, can look upon society, as at 

 present constituted, and not regret that natural objects are so 

 much neglected? I am aware that a taste for natural history 

 has greatly increased of late, and I rejoice at it; but I am 

 afraid that there is too much mere book-knowledge, which 

 never can make that impression upon the mind as the actual 

 examination of the objects does. Books are useful to teach the 

 elementary parts of science, but for any thing more the real 

 lover of nature will go to the fountain-head. 



Much as I was delighted with the graphic account of the 

 Macroglossa Stellatarum in the Journal of a Naturalist, yet 

 how much greater was the pleasure when I first saw this fairy- 

 like creature ! It was the month of July ; I was in the garden 



