110 



KIDD'S LONDON JOURNAL. 



want of a fashionable vocabulary for petits 

 soupers, dejeuners a la fourchette, and bals 

 pares, than a Frenchman is of a word to 

 denote that state of existence which the 

 English call " comfortable." Comfort with 

 us, means the enjoyment which we derive 

 from a substantial dinner, followed by a 

 bottle of exhilarating Port ; a cheering fire on 

 a winter's night, with the ale posset, or hot 

 elder wine, passing round the domestic 

 circle : or the inside of a stage-coach, when 

 well wrapped up, while the poor outside 

 travellers are shivering with cold, in an 

 atmosphere below zero. The French have 

 no substantiality in their fare, and instead of 

 sound Port, drink sour Claret. They have 

 no fire-side, like ours, but sit smothering in 

 the smoke from green woods ; with the doors 

 and windows open, to prevent absolute suf- 

 focation. They have no warm stage-coaches, 

 but, when in their misnamed Diligences, are 

 exposed to the drafts from broken panes of 

 •glass, and a thousand creaks in the coach 

 (wagon — wag- on, indeed ! for the vehicle 

 can hardly be said to be in motion) pannels. 

 Under such circumstances they can have no 

 comfort; and do not therefore require a word, 

 to express what is meant by " comfortable." 

 There are, however, a few situations of 

 life in which 'the French have some idea of 

 the comfortable in the same way as our- 

 selves, although they have no distinct word 

 to characterise it. If a man is comfortable 

 in his lodgings, he says — " Je Mis tres bien," 

 which means,"I am very comfortable ; if lie 

 is rich, he says <£ Je suis a mon aise" which 

 means, that he is in what we call comfort- 

 able circumstances. He says the same, too, 

 when lounging on a sofa, and 'too idle for 

 active business ; just as a lazy fellow in this 

 country, when he refuses to move, says, 

 " Let me alone, I am very comfortable." 

 But for true English roast-beef, or fire-side 

 comfort, the Frenchman has no word; the 

 thing is infinitely BEYOND his COMPRE- 

 HENSION. 



•THE GOAT-MOTH. 



This Moth, Cossus signiperda, which belongs 

 to the order Lepidoptera nocturga, measures 

 about three and a half inches across the ex- 

 panded fore-wings, which are of an ashy white 

 color, streaked and barred with irregular black- 

 ish lines ; particularly towards the hinder margin . 

 The secondary wings are of a lighter color, and 

 marked with a few streaks posteriorly. The 

 nervures of the anterior wings are brown; the 

 thorax brown; with a white mark above the 

 head, and a black bar behind the middle. Abdo- 

 men, ash color, and marked with dusky bars 

 on each segment. The female lays her eggs in 

 the chinks and bark of trees, sometimes as many 

 as 1000 at a time. It is most probable that the 

 greater portion of the young grubs, on emerging 



from the egg, are found and picked off by birds 

 before they can penetrate into the tree, as they 

 are never found in any great numbers; and if not 

 by birds, they must be destroyed by some un- 

 known and invisible agency, equally destruc- 

 tive. _ ^Nature has here made a great and wise 

 provision : for if such numbers were not annu- 

 ally destroyed, they would increase to such an 

 extent as to overrun and consume the greater 

 part of the vegetable kingdom. In the day-time, 

 the moth rests on the trunk of trees ; which in 

 color it so much resembles, that a casual ob- 

 server would not perceive it. The caterpillar, 

 when full grown, measures about five inches in 

 length, and is of a livid red color, with a few 

 short hairs dispersed here and there over the 

 body. Down the back, on each segment, there 

 is a row of dark red patches. The head is black. 

 The caterpillar of the goat-moth commits in- 

 credible ravages on various trees, but more espe- 

 cially on the elm and the willow, destroying them 

 in an incredibly short space of time. " It does not 

 consume the foliage of trees, like many other 

 caterpillars, but derives its nutriment from the 

 solid wood, which it readily comminutes by the 

 action of its jaws. By means of these powerful 

 organs, it mines its way through the stem of the 

 most healthful tree, to the material injury of its 

 vital functions ; and, by forming numerous gal- 

 leries in all directions which admit air and 

 moisture, it often occasions a rapid decay."* 

 Yet, though the caterpillar is generally pretty 

 abundant, the moth is not found in anything like 

 proportionate numbers. After remaining in the 

 larva state three years, it descends to the entrance 

 hole, and forms its cocoon, which is very strong ; 

 being composed of the chips it had gnawed off 

 in its passage through the tree, intermingled 

 with silk. The chrysalis is yellow, and has two 

 points at the tail. In this state, it remains till cir- 

 cumstances favor its exclusion from the cocoon. 

 Though not common, this moth is pretty gene- 

 rally distributed over England. It appears in 

 June and July. C. M. 



THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Strawberry Forcing. 



When we consider the number of parts 

 which compose the flower of a strawberry, 

 and that the rudiment of each part is con- 

 tained in the bud, even when it is so small 

 as scarcely to be visible to the naked eye, 

 we may infer that great caution is required 

 to bring forth those minute objects in a per- 

 fect state of development, by artificial means. 



When the bud of a strawberry flower has 

 attained the size of a pin's head, let a cross 

 section be examined through a lens or micro- 

 scope. This section will be found to comprise 

 a certain number of rings or circles ; these 

 consist of, first, the calyx ; second, the co- 

 rolla ; third, the male organs ; fourth, or 

 centre point, the female organs. These must 



* Duncan's British Moths. 



