pretty little poem on the Lady-bird, in the very interesting Conversations on Natural History,' before quoted, vol. i, p. 10.

The harvest-bug (acarus ricinus), in this and the following month, proves a very troublesome and disagreeable insect; particularly in some of the southern counties of England. The best cure for the bite is bartshorn. Flies now abound, and torment both men and animals with their perpetual buzzing.

So have I seene ere this a silly flie

With mastif dog in summer's heate to play,
Sometime to sting him in his nose or eie,
Sometime about his grizly jawes to stay,
And buzzing round about his eares to flie,
He snaps in vaine, for still she whips away;
And oft so long she dallies in this sort,

Till one snap comes and marreth all her sport.
ARIOSTO, by HARRINGTON.

Wasps and hornets become, in this and the succeeding month, very annoying to us in our rural walks. They resemble the bee by living in societies, making very ingeniously the nests where they raise their young; but in elegance of taste, and delicacy of manners, these are very inferior. They live on fruit, meat, and even on other insects. The author who writes under the name of Hector St. John, an American farmer, relates that, in America, it is very common to suspend a hornet's nest in the middle of the ceiling of a room where the family live, that these insects may relieve them from the great number of flies with which the houses are infested, and that it is usual for the hornets to settle on the faces of children, with no other intention than to carry away flies; while the children, accustomed to them, express no fear, and never are stung. These hornets, and their near relations, the wasps, are great enemies of the bees, not only by stealing their honey, but because they kill the industrious labourers themselves. In the vast woods of America there are wild bees,

the

that make great quantities of honey in the hollows of trees, and the settlers and Indians are guided to these treasures by a bird who knows where they are deposited.

The common glow-worm, the little planet of the rural scene,' may be observed in abundance in the month of August, when the earth is almost as thickly spangled with them as the cope of heaven is with stars. The glow-worm, like the cricket, lady-bird, and many other insects, makes but little use of its wings; for they are seldom seen on any situation more elevated than the summit of a barley-ear, or a stunted furze-bush; but are generally found on banks under hedges, and sometimes in the interstices of rugged elm-roots and the foundations of buildings. We cannot refuse to enrich our pages with the following pretty sonnet from the pen of the poetess whom we have so often mentioned with pleasure :—

If on some balmy-breathing night of Spring
The happy child, to whom the world is new,
Pursues the evening moth of mealy wing,
Or from the heath-flower beats the sparkling dew,
He sees, before his inexperienced eyes,
The brilliant glow-worm like a meteor shine
On the turf bank: amazed and pleased he cries,
'Star of the dewy grass, I make thee mine!'
Then, ere he sleeps, collects the moistened flower,
And bids soft leaves his glittering prize enfold,
And dreams that fairy lamps illume his bower;
Yet with the morning shudders to behold
His lucid treasure, rayless as the dust.

So turn the world's bright joys to cold and blank disgust'.

The solitary bee (apis manicata), and the white moth (phalana pacta), are observed in this month : the ptinus pectinicornis also makes its appearance. The larvæ of this insect are very destructive to wooden furniture, boring holes in tables, chairs, bed-posts,

Conversations on Natural History,' by Charlotte Smith,

vol. i, p. 59.

&c.;-they are much inclined to lay their eggs in beech, hence this wood is less fit for the manufacture of domestic utensils. If their eggs are deposited on the surface, frequent rubbing will preserve wooden furniture.

The southern counties of England, particularly Surrey and Kent, now yield their valuable produce of hops in this month. The common hop (humulus lupulus) is propagated either by nursery plants, or by cuttings.

The hop is a most valuable plant: in its wild state it is relished by cows, horses, goats, sheep, and swine. When cultivated, its young tops are eaten, early in the spring, as substitutes for asparagus, being wholesome and aperient. Its principal use, however (could brewers be made honest), is in brewing malt liquors, communicating that fine bitter flavour to our beer, and making it keep for a longer time than it otherwise would do. Hops also serve some important purposes in medicine.

The heat of this month is sometimes excessive, and we are then led to exclaim with the poet of nature,

Welcome, ye shades! ye bowery thickets, hail!
Ye lofty pines! ye venerable oaks!

Ye ashes wild, resounding o'er the steep!

6

and, regarding coolness and freshness as indispensable to the enjoyment of Nature's bounties at this season, those who are confined in large cities luxuriate themselves with the frequent ice,' and employ every means in their power to cool the various liquors, which the heat renders necessary to relieve the parched and fevered lip' of thirst. To such, as well as to our country readers, we recommend the following observations on cooling liquors,' chiefly from the 'Chemical Essays' of Mr. Parkes.

The most antient, and perhaps the most universal, mode of reducing the temperature of bodies, was by means of ice and snow. That these were used for this

purpose in the time of Solomon, we have the testimony of some of the most antient writings; and we are told that Alexander the Great, when he lay before the besieged city of Petra, having an eye to the delicacies of his table, caused thirty trenches to be dug, and filled with snow, which was defended from the sun by oak branches, and preserved for a long time.

The snow of Lebanon was in high estimation in the days of the prophet Jeremiah; and, according to Mr. Harmer, the present inhabitants of Palestine collect snow during the summer months from the top of the same mountain, and carry it two or three days journey, that being (as he says) mixed with wine, it may keep it as cold as ice'.

The practice of cooling liquors at the tables of the great was not usual in any country of Europe, excepting in Italy and the neighbouring states, before the end of the sixteenth century; and there is a direct testimony on record, that in the middle of that century there were no ice-cellars in France. However, before the end of the seventeenth century, the luxury of ice was very common in France; for about that time there were many persons who were professed dealers in snow and ice; and in 1676 there were not less than two hundred and fifty shops in Paris alone for the sale of liquors of different sorts cooled with ice.

An ice-house, it is probable, might be employed with advantage during the summer months in preserving meat. We know that from the salmon fisheries in Scotland and the north of England, the fish are sent to the metropolis, during the greater part of the season, packed with ice, in boxes about four feet long and eighteen inches deep. When packed, the ice, which is previously broken as small as bay-salt, is put over them, and beaten down as hard as can be without

As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him; for he refresheth the soul of his masters.'-Proverbs xxv, 13.

bruising the salmon. In this manner they are kept perfectly fresh for two or three weeks.

Another way of modifying heat is by the use of certain saline bodies. Towards the latter end of the 17th century, Mr. Boyle made experiments with various kinds of salts and other substances for reducing the temperature of water, and in the year 1683 published his Experiments and, Observations touching Cold;' a work of great labour and ingenuity. By these researches he discovered that either common salt, alum, vitriol, sal ammoniac, lump-sugar, oil of vitriol, nitrous acid, caustic ammonia, or alcohol, when mixed with snow, had the power of freezing water, and thus laid the foundation for the modern discoveries on frigorific mixtures.

About this time the use of a mixture of snow and common salt had become very common in several countries in Europe; but a long period intervened before any facts of importance were added to those which Mr. Boyle had published on this subject.

The art of making ice was for many years practised only as an amusement, and no one suspected that it would ever be applied to such important purposes, both of science and luxury. Like gunpowder, and many other valuable discoveries, it was at first considered to be of very trifling consequence.

In the beginning of the seventeenth century, however, drinking-cups made of ice', and iced fruits, were brought to table; and before its conclusion the French began to congeal all kinds of well-tasted juices, which were served up as refreshments at the tables of the great and wealthy.

In the year 1621, Barclay's Argenis, an interesting romance, was published at Paris; and its author places on the table of Juba, in the middle of summer, fresh apples for Arsidas, one half of which were incrusted

Very easy and simple directions for making ice-cups for drinking of wine in summer, will be found in Mr. Boyle's History of Cold, title xiv, page 137.