WEST AMERICA!? SCIEOTTST. 



m 



ONLY A BEETLE, 



A distinguished naturalist was 

 •once shut up in a gloomy French 

 prison for some political reason* 

 While there his active mind pre- 

 vented Mm from sinking into 

 despondency, for even his cheer- 

 less cell furnished him with food 

 for thought and study. The very 

 insects, which to another would 

 Iiave been merely objects of aver- 

 sion, were to him as fresh leaves 

 from the ever interesting book 

 <of nature. 



The surgeon who visited the 

 prison found the naturalist one 

 day intently examining a beetle, 

 which had intruded on his soli- 

 tude. He informed the physician j 

 that the insect was a rare one, and 

 proceeded with the enthusiasm of a 

 naturalist to speak of its peculiar- - 

 ities. The physician begged that 

 he might have it for two young 

 friends who were ardent students 

 of the science, and it was readily 

 granted to him. 



The students were well ac- 

 quainted with the fame of the cel- 

 ebrated Latreille, and when they 

 learned his situation they forth* 

 with took active measures to se- 

 cure his release. So successful 

 were they that the scholar was at 

 length set at liberty, and could 

 ever afterward feel that he owed 

 his life to an insect. A month 

 later, and all his fellow prisoners 

 were put on board a ship for 

 transportation. The vessel found- 

 ered in the Bay of Biscay, and all 

 on board perished. 



How small the means God of- 

 ten uses to save our life or take it 

 away ! — Selected. 



CONTEMPORARY JOURNALS. 



Pine and Palmetto, Vol. 1, Oak- 

 land, CaL, 35 cents a year, is a neat 

 four-page semi-monthly, edited by 

 Paul Goldsmith, of Oakland, CaL, 

 mid A. d Whitney, of Melrose, Fla. 



The American Jeweler, Vol. 4, 

 $1 per year, Geo. K. Hazlitt <fe Co., 

 publishers, is a sprightly journal 

 devoted to the jewelry and kin- 

 dred interests of America ; month- 

 ly, of twenty-five or more pages ; 

 the recognized organ of the trade. 



The Exchanger's Aid is a 

 monthly devoted exclusively to 

 the interests of exchangers, Vol. I, 

 published by Union Exchange 

 Agency, Canajoharie, N. Y., at 50 

 cents per year. The 12 pages of the 

 first number contain a great many 

 offers to exchange books, stamps, 

 curios and articles of value, 

 that must facilitate exchanges 

 among the thousands of amateurs. 



The Young Mineralogist and 

 Antiquarian continues to hold its 

 place as a low priced, first-class 

 journal and is indispensable to an 

 amateur in the field it embraces. 



The Century Illustrated Month- 

 ly Magazine takes the lead in 

 American literature, and is indis- 

 pensable to the general reader who 

 wishes to keep posted on the 

 times. The Century Company, 

 New York, four dollars per year. 



Complimentary copies of this 

 number are sent to many corres- 

 pondents of the editor in the hope 

 that they may subscribe. Num- 

 bers 1 and 2 are exhausted, but 

 subscriptions may commence with 

 any other number. 



