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Spring, the insect-myriads of Summer, and the luscious fruits of Autumn, are no more; all have fled at the cold touch of icy Hyems. Numerous animals are now retired to their winter sleep, and many of the feathered tribe have sought a warmer and more genial clime.

The wrathful Winter hast'ning on apace,

With blust'ring blasts had all ybar'd the treen,
And old Saturnus with his frosty face

With chilling cold had pierced the tender green;
The mantles rent wherein enwrapped been

The gladsome groves, that now lay overthrown,
The tapets torn, and ev'ry tree down blown.

The soil that erst so seemingly was seen,

Was all despoiled of her beauty's hue,

And stole fresh flow'rs (wherewith the Summer's queen
Had clad the earth :) now Boreas blasts down blew,
And small fowls flocking, in their song did rew
The winter's wrath, wherewith each thing defaced,
In woful wise bewailed the summer past.

Hawthorn had lost his motley livery;

The naked twigs were shiv'ring all for cold,
And dropping down the tears abundantly;

Each thing (methought) with weeping eye me told
The cruel season, bidding me withhold
Myself within, for I was gotten out
Into the fields.

EARL OF DORSET.

Not so, however, the inquisitive Naturalist; he neither regards the keen wind, nor the falling snow: he passes by no opportunity of enlarging his knowledge of the beauties and the wonders of creation. The Entomologist, in particular, will be amply repaid, in this and the succeeding month, by a walk through the fields and woods; and although they may be covered with the fleecy mantle of winter, the industrious collector will readily find objects of sufficient interest to reward his assiduity. Often (observes Mr. SAMOUELLE), in the month of January, have I repaired to the woods, and, though much snow lay on the ground, have taken great numbers of insects from under the bark of trees, moss, &c. and of

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species which have been scarce even in the summer months. At this season, the Entomologist should not omit to collect a quantity of moss from the roots of trees, which may be carried home in a pocket handkerchief and examined by shaking it over a sheet of paper, upon which the insects will fall, and are easily discovered. At this period also, if the weather be mild, the Entomologist should dig at the roots of trees for the pupe of Lepidoptera; for this purpose the digger is used, or a small trowel: the principal places worthy attention are the roots of oaks, elms, lime-trees, &c. or beneath the underwood, opening the earth close to the tree, and searching to the depth of several inches. Such pupa as penetrate into the wood require more care, lest they be destroyed when the attempt is made to extricate them; sound on the bark with the digger, and the hollows will soon be discovered where no external sign is visible; tear off the bark (and carefully examine it, for minute Coleoptera are frequently found adhering to it), and with a knife cut away the wood that surrounds the orifice of the cavity, to enlarge it, and take out the pupa as carefully as possible.'-See Mr. Samouelle's Introduction to the Knowledge of British Insects, (p. 314) an indispensable text book to every student in this delightful and highly popular branch of Natural History. This work exhibits the fruits of much labour and scientific research into a very attractive department of knowledge, and is presented to the public in a style of minute elegance and accuracy, highly worthy the interest of the subject which it illustrates. It does infinite credit to the author's industry and acquirements as a Naturalist, and we feel a sincere pleasure in earnestly recommending it to the notice of our readers'.

'We think it right to give the title of this ingenious work at length, that our friends may be enabled to form some opinion of the immense mass of valuable information which it contains:

The throstle is now seen under sunny hedges and southern walls in pursuit of snails, which he destroys in abundance, particularly in hard winters; he delights also in chrysalids and worms. Other birds. now quit their retreats in search of food. The nuthatch is heard, and larks congregate and fly to the warm stubble for shelter.

The shell-less snail or slug makes its appearance, and commences its depredations on garden plants and green wheat.

The hedge-sparrow and the thrush now begin to sing. The wren also 'pipes her perennial lay,' even among the flakes of snow. The blackbird whistles: the titmouse pulls straw out of the thatch, in search of insects; and linnets congregate. Pullets begin to lay; young lambs are dropped now. The fieldfares, red-wings, skylarks, and titlarks, resort to watered meadows for food, and are, in part, supported by the gnats which are on the snow, near the water. The tops of tender turnips and ivy-berries afford food for the graminivorous birds, as the ringdove, &c.

The house-sparrow chirps, and the bat is now

seen.

The garden presents scarcely any object of attraction during this month: in December there are still some lingering signs of vegetation; some annuals coming into flower, and some change to be

THE ENTOMOLOGIST'S USEFUL COMPENDIUM; or an Introduction to the Knowledge of British Insects: comprising the best Means of obtaining and preserving them, and a Description of the Apparatus generally used; together with the Genera of Linnè, and the modern Method of arranging the Classes Crustacea, Myriapoda, Mites, and Insects, from their Affinities and Structure, according to the Views of Dr. Leach; also an Explanation of Terms used in Entomology: a Calendar of the Times of Appearance and usual Situations of near 3000 Species of British Insects; with Instructions for collecting and fitting-up Objects for the Microscope. Illustrated by 12 coloured Plates. By GEORGE SAMOUELLE, Associate of the Linnean Society of London.'

observed in a few culinary plants, as the savoy and the leek. Now, however, almost every thing is at a stand, and so it must remain, whelmed in cold, till the first or second week of February gives relief, when the gooseberry bush and the elder will afford signs of the sap's motion. From that time, the lover of plants dates his delight in watching their progress, till (beginning with the sloe) the whole round of fruit trees have come into blossom. In the absence of garden-flowers, however, the golden saxifrage and the stonecrop afford their little aid to give life and beauty to the wintry scene. The bramble still retains its leaves, and gives a thin scattering of green in the otherwise leafless hedges; while the berries of the hawthorn, the wild rose, and the spindle-tree, afford their brilliant touches of red. The twigs of the red dog-wood, too, give a richness amid the general brown of the other shrubs. Ivy, 'which kills the thing it loves,' now casts its leaves.

The Helleborus niger, or Christmas rose, shows its pretty flowers at this season, and, towards the close of the month, the snowdrop blooms.

The SNOWDROP.

I've oft admired the lonely flower
That 'midst the wintry snows,
When other flow'rets bloom no more,
Its silv'ry bosom shows.

I've thought it represented Hope,
Which, with support replete,
Pours in the bitterest earthly cup
A more than earthly sweet.

Yes, let affliction force the tear,
The world our bosoms sting;

Hope, like the snowdrop, still shall cheer,
And point to coming Spring.

T. PAGE.

The flowers of the rosemary, an emblem of fidelity among lovers, now begin to open. Its appearance at this season is thus beautifully noticed by the poet :

Sad rosemary,

Mocking the winter of the year with perfumes,
Which the first blast that blows will ravish from it,
And waste midst howling tempests.

The pleasures and gratifications which flow from the fire-side of an English January, may be considered as almost peculiar to these islands. In warmer climates,' (says a popular writer) 'the aid of fire is demanded for little else than culinary purposes; whilst in the northern regions of continental Europe, the gloomy and unsocial stove forms, in general, the only medium through which the rigours of their intense winter are mitigated. To the enlivening blaze and the clean-swept hearth, and to all the numerous comforts which, in this country, so usually wait upon their junction, they are perfect strangers.' Let us add, also, to these attractions, the society of a friendly neighbour—a race of bipeds extinct in great cities and towns, but still to be found in many of the villes and villages of the United Kingdom.-MARY LEADBETTER, a Quakeress, (we love their pretty, chaste, simplex munditiis style of dress) has favoured us with the following effusion on this subject, which has never yet been in type:

MY NEIGHBour.

Who is it, while adown the tide
Of rolling Time our vessels glide,
1 see, fair sailing by my side?.

MY NEIGHBOUR.
Scarce conscious that thou art so near,
Scarce conscious that thou art so dear,
Onward my quiet course I steer,
MY NEIGHBOUR.
But should the stroke of death divide
The twisted bands so firmly tied,
Should absence tear thee from my side,

MY NEIGHBOUR,

How wide the vacuum I should feel!
How deep the wound, how hard to heal!
How oft to thee should Mem'ry steal,

MY NEIGHBOUR!

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