146 A TOUa BOUND MT GAKDEN. 



Apollo acted then exactly as many pianists ■would do. if 

 they dared; — he skinned his rival, and crowned his judge 

 ■with ass's ears. 



King Midas concealed his ears as ■well as he ■was able, but 

 he ■was obliged to confide the secret to his barber, who, being 

 unable to keep it, dug a hole in the earth, and when the 

 secret was choking him, he went and relieved his throat by 

 putting his head into the hole, and saying: "Midas — King 

 Midas has ass's ears." Some reeds grew in this hole, and when 

 they were agitated by the ■wind, instead of simply murmur- 

 ing, as others do, and as honest reeds ought to do, they said : 

 " Midas — King Midas has ass's ears." 



The reed {calamiis) was the first pen invented. Of reeds, 

 arrows and canes were made : — 



"Lethalis aiundo." — ViEO. 

 "Equitare in arundine longa," — Hor. 



A sort of grub, of a greenish grey colour, crawls out of the 

 mud, leaves the water at the bottom of which it has hitherto 

 lived, and fastens itself to a small reed; it then sticks into 

 the bark of the reed two little very sharp claws which it has 

 on each foot. After a few minutes of immobility, you may 

 perceive its eyes become brilliant, and its back split and 

 open; then a head appears through the opening; after this 

 head come the body and wings of a lihellule, or demoiselle. 

 The wings are folded and shapeless; the body is soft, and all 

 in a heap. It waits till the air without, and life within, may 

 put all in proper condition; at the end of half-an-hour, it 

 shakes itself, and flies away, light, slender, and richly adorned 

 ■with the colours of the emerald and the turquoise, and at 

 least as brilliant as either. 



I now see a crowd of them sporting in the air, or lighted 

 upon the reeds ; some of them dart away, and disappear on 

 the wing, but return a few minutes afterwards. They live on 

 prey, and devour the insects of the air, as they ate those of 

 the water, when in their first shape. 



Among all insects, in these, perhaps, there is the least 

 resemblance between the males and females. Contrary to 

 what is observed in all other insects, the male is at first much 

 larger than the female, and their vestments are quite different. 



