354 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



Journal save Our Own. Our readers 

 are quite " one" with us, and well under- 

 stand the delights of true friendship. They 

 may, however, have certain among their 

 acquaintance to whom they might like to 

 read what we say. It would come better 

 from us, perhaps, than from themselves. 



Now for a word or two about profitable 

 meditation. We always rind, in our strolls 

 and wanderings, the greatest of all possible 

 pleasures in meditating much upon what we 

 have read, seen, and heard. It is only in 

 solitude, or quietness, that one can indulge 

 in these privileges, and give the soul a holi- 

 day. Grazing on the blue Heavens, and 

 accompanied by the glorious sun, the heart 

 feels free. The busy world is no place for 

 meditation. The thoughtful spirit sickens 

 at all it beholds there, and would gladly 

 escapefar away — if it could. The observations 

 of a single day afford meditation for months 

 to come. Nor is such meditation unprofit- 

 able. We wish we could get people, gene- 

 rally, to close with our ideas ; but alas ! we 

 are as a heathen to them. Each party con- 

 siders the other mad ! Who shall decide ? 



The season has now arrived when 

 " thought" will be almost universally banished 

 —pleasure (falsely so-called) being eagerly 

 pursued in every variety and excess. " The 

 people " as they are familiarly termed, are 

 now being poured out in armies far and near — 

 eating, drinking, smoking, jesting, and rioting 

 being, in their ideas, the summum bonum of 

 human happiness. To attempt to reason 

 with such folk, would be idle ; Ave therefore 

 do not attempt it. Yet are we grieved to 

 see the low estimate set upon the best gift 

 ever bestowed on man. "Be merry and 

 wise," is an old saying, now laid upon the 

 shelf. Ardent spirits, beer, and tobacco, 

 have quite obliterated it from the minds of 

 our people. Sad but true ! We wish these 

 most filthy abominations were more heavily 

 taxed ; the proceeds of a single year would 

 go half way towards paying the expenses of 

 the war, which my Lord Aberdeen's apathetic 

 indifference has lugged us into with his 

 11 friend — the Emperor." But we have now 

 done. 



Let us close these few passing " Medita- 

 tions " with half-a-dozen lines embodying a 

 favorite sentiment of ours, to which may 

 there be many a responding heart ! 



Nature in zeal for human amity, 



Denies or damps all undivided joy. 



Joy flies monopolists — it calls for two. 



Eich fruit! Heaven-planted; never pluck'd by 



one. 

 Needful auxiliaries are our friends to give 

 To social man true relish of himself. 



May our creed become a universal one, — 

 and the sooner the better ! 



A CHAPTER ON GAD FLIES. 



The natural history of the Gad-fly is 

 very curious ; so curious that, as July is 

 here (the month common to this insect), we 

 propose offering a few observations on its 

 habits. Its principal victims are the horse, 

 the ox, the sheep, and the deer. Let us 

 begin with 



THE GADFLY AND THE HORSE. 



The term gad-fly has been employed to 

 denote the various species of a family of 

 insects parasitic on horses, oxen, and other 

 animals. These insects much resemble large 

 common flies ; but the body is often orna- 

 mented with bands of different colors, like 

 the humble bees. The wings are very strong, 

 and in general fully extended ; the mouth of 

 the insect, when in its winged state, is nearly 

 obsolete, its place being supplied by three 

 small tubercles, which are not fitted for organs 

 of nutrition. Each species of this remark- 

 able family is confined to its own particular 

 quadruped, and displays much skill in the 

 selection of the fittest spot for the deposition 

 of its eggs. 



The animals which have been ascertained 

 as subject to their attacks, are — the horse, 

 ox, ass, rein-deer, stag, camel, sheep, hare, 

 and rabbit. Although there is reason to 

 believe that the deposition of the eggs is 

 rather annoying than painful to the several 

 animals, yet the degree of terror which the 

 approach of the gad-fly produces in them is 

 very great. Horses are much agitated at the 

 sight of it : they toss their heads, and gallop 

 to a distant part of the pasture, in the hope 

 of driving it away, or escaping from its 

 pursuit. This is not, however, to be easily 

 effected : the fly often keeps up with their 

 pace, and follows her victim wherever he 

 goes. His only chance of escape now lies in 

 plunging into the stream ; and if there is one 

 at hand, he thus effectually rids himself of 

 the annoyance, for the gad-fly never follows 

 him there. 



If no water is near, the fly soon finds an 

 opportunity of accomplishing her purpose. 

 Selecting the part where she designs to 

 deposit her egg, she hovers over it for a few 

 seconds, then suddenly darts down and leaves 

 the egg adhering to the hair ; this is so 

 rapidly done, that she hardly appears to 

 settle, but merely to touch the hair, and leave 

 the egg affixed, by means of the glutinous 

 liquor which is secreted with it. She then 

 retires to a short distance from the horse, 

 and prepares another egg, which she attaches 

 to the animal in precisely the same way ; then 

 another, and so on. 



Other flies repeat the operation ; so that as 

 many as four or five hundred eggs have been 

 placed on one horse. The most wonderful 

 part of this proceeding is, that the insect 



