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duty manfully, so to speak, and lays the eggs, from which small termites are developed, at the rate of sixty a minute!

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Both the king and queen differ from their subjects in that they have wings and are much larger. They, however, do not reap any advantage from their

superior appearance, for they are kept prisoners all their lives in their chamber in the very centre of the realm, the doors of which admit their numerous and adoring attendants, but are not sufficiently large for royalty to pass through.

The queen grows to an enormous size, and is unable to move even if she would. Her body reaches 2,000 times its original proportions, and is often as big as a man's thumb. With what love and devotion is she waited upon by her attending thousands! Her one occupation is to lay eggs-the more she lays the more she is worshipped. With the bringing up of her young she has nothing to do; but surely the care of a family which increases at the rate of 80,000 per day would be entirely beyond the powers of even these marvellous insects. Do their nests not deserve to be placed in the first rank among the wonders of our little world?

"Thou little insect, infinitely small,

What curious texture marks thy tiny frame !
How seeming large thy foresight, and withal
Thy labouring talents, not unworthy fame,
To raise such monstrous hills along the plain,
Larger than mountains when compared with thee."

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IN the more southern counties of England, as the azure summer sky deepens into the indigo of night, and the stars gradually appear, shining brighter and brighter as the darkness increases, seeming to hang in the clear dome of heaven like countless lamps suspended at different lengths, there may be seen on the earth, in the soft mossy hedgerows, myriads of tiny diamonds which seem to reflect their fickle rays. The cold, pale queen of night is absent, and the merry lesser lights wink and blink at each other with knowing looks, as if they said, "Now is our time-let us make the most of it, and shine our brightest, so that the inhabitants of earth shall wish that chillylooking, changeable moon may not come back again, and put an end to our cheerful twinklings." Shine on, bright stars, your number and variety, bespangling the rich soft robe of night, has a charm for us that

even the white sheen with which the great roundfaced orb floods the silent hours cannot excel.

Our knowledge of the stars of heaven is very slight. We believe they are a great distance from our earth. We know something of their movements, and also that certain of them will appear or disappear at certain seasons. Many speculations have been made as to whether they are or are not worlds inhabited by beings somewhat resembling man, but differently organised so as to adapt them for their particular atmospheres and surroundings.

From speculating upon things so far above and beyond us, let us turn to things more within the range of our knowledge and comprehension, and examine our little earth-stars.

The Surrey lanes in the warm weather are quite illuminated with myriads of tiny sparks emitted by insects. Cowper's poem, taught to almost every school-boy and girl, has made us familiar with the name and light-giving nature of the glow-worm; but of the outward form of this living spark very few people have any knowledge. Let us stoop down and pick up one of these glowing stars of earth. What a tiny little creature it is! Its dusky-looking body is not much more than half an inch long. It does not attempt to run away. In fact, when it is brought into a strong light, it is, to all outward appearance, curled up in the cold grasp of death. In reality, however, the little creature is very much alive. Its body is

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very soft, and its legs do not carry it sufficiently quickly to enable it to escape from danger. There are certain birds and insects who like nice soft living bodies, but who do not care for dead ones, so directly any danger of being devoured threatens the glowworm, it doubles itself up as if life were extinct, and remains motionless until the peril is past.

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Put the apparently lifeless insect on to the damp mould in a flower-pot in a quiet, dark corner for a few moments, and it will gradually unfold itself, and the clear shining of its pale greenish light will be as bright' as ever.

Whence comes the glow-worm's spark, and what are its uses?

It may not be generally known that this wingless, soft-bodied, six-legged, creeping taper, is the perfect

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