"A rare and very beautiful book upon bugs: the poetry of insect life: a new subject for the fancy, but well treated, so as to furnish instruction with entertainment, and being embellished with numerous engravings, and elegantly printed, it forms a handsome volume for the parlor.”—N. Y. Observer.

"A book for young and old, of more than usual interest, is 'Episodes of Insect Life,' published by J. S. Redfield, New York. The plan of this familiar entomological treatise, if so grave a word as treatise may be used, is novel and attractive; and the reader is led on from page to page, and from chapter to chapter, almost as if he were poring over a romance. The charms of poetic association, allegoric fable, and moral analogy, are all brought into requisition by the author, who has succeeded in the production of a most delightful work, which the publisher has profusely embellished. Some of the illustrations are quaint enough. We heartily recommend 'Episodes of Insect Life,' as a book from which all readers may gain amusement and instruction." Arthur's Gazette.

"The lovers of Natural History will find a rich treat in this beautiful volume. Avoiding the dry details of a technical nomenclature, the genial writer describes the curious phenomena of insect life with the delightful simplicity and unction of an enthusiast for nature. Even if the work were not recommended by the extent and fullness of its information, it would still derive a perpetual charm from the quaint humor and delicate beauty of its style. The embellishments, with which it is profusely illustrated, are engraved with great softness and fidelity. No book has recently been issued from the New York press which presents a more creditable specimen of elegant typography."-N. Y. Tribune.

"A new work, published by J. S. Redfield, of this city, on the 'Episodes of Insect Life,' is one of the most interesting and beautiful books of the present season. It is an 8vo. volume of 320 pages, profusely illustrated with engravings, executed with great beauty and fidelity. The genial writer describes the curious phenomena of insect life with the delightful simplicity and unction of an enthusiast for nature. The value of the work, for the extent and fullness of its information, is far beyond its mere price, and its interest is greatly enhanced by the delicacy and quaintness of its style. Its typographical execution is in the highest style of the art."—Sears' Family Visitor.

"This work is playfully written, and contains much that is interesting, and will be new to most readers on the subject of which it treats. It is very prettily illustrated with well executed engravings.”—Boston Daily Advertiser.

"This is a very agreeable book, which has attracted considerable attention in England. It is not intended as a scientific work, but rather as a popular treatise, showing the nature, the habits, and the life of the insect tribes which crowd the earth and swarm the air. The author defends the order of nature in the insect creation, and shows their uses in the great economy of nature. The various kinds of insects are arranged in the order of the months in which they make their appearance, and as the four first months only are exhausted, we infer that the volume before us will be followed by others upon the same subject. If they are as well written as this, they will find many readers. The book is beautifully printed, and is illustrated with numerous engravings."— Providence Journal.

"This is a very interesting volume, and will be found a most attractive work to all ages, for, while it is amusing and playful in its language, it is replete with valuable information. It is an account of the habits of those insects which appear with us in the spring. It describes their various transformations, their changeable states and conditions, without the use of hard technical language, but most intelligibly to the general reader. It might be called Science made pleasure, or Fact made fanciful. The work is en.bellished by numerous engravings, but at the present time, the air and ground is full, and the whole face of nature teems with illustrations to this agreeable work. A finer specimen of typography is rarely seen, and we commend it to all those who would see in nature constant illustrations of the power and goodness of its great Creator, whose every work doth praise Him.--Newark Daily Advertiser.

"This beautifully printed and illustrated work is not indebted to its mechanical execution, solely, for its attractiveness. It is written in a style singularly fascinating, and abounds with facts regarding the Insect tribes, which would rivet the wondering attention of the reader, were they presented through the medium of a less attractive style. It is evident that the author has not written this work merely for name of the thing-nor was he prompted to the task solely for the good it might do-for there is a genial feeling pervading the book, which evidences that he has a love for his subject that renders it a pleasant pastime for him to prepare such a volume. The volume was written for popular circulation, and will not therefore perplex the minds of the uninitiated by the use of scientific terms of definition. No reader can fail of entering with hearty sympathy into the soliloquy of the author as he is roused from his revery by the chirp of the cricket on the hearth, whom he captures, and this familiar manner will insure readers who would be repelled from a work of more dignity.

"A knowledge of the phenomena which the science of Entomology exhibits, is useful to the heart as well as the head. The wonderful instinct of many of these insects, is a demonstration of the existence of a Creator who has gifted them with the faculty of adapting means to ends which secure their highest usefulness and happiness. That this instinct is a faculty specially imparted, and not the result of the creature's own thought or reasoning power, is evident from the fact that he has no faculty of overcoming any obstacle which may interfere with the uniform operation of that instinct, even though it might be overcome by a far less exercise of contrivance and foresight, than is displayed in that instinct itself. The intent of this volume is not to teach Natural Theology, but it nevertheless does so, and, like many works of similar character, is valuable not only for what it imparts, but what it suggests.”

Waverley Magazine.

"A beauty of a book! As the Irish say when hungry, a broth of a book! It does not teach entomology as a science; but, in a manner, steals it unto you, while you are only unbending your mind by watching the habits of the insect world. Here you have a delightful mixture of natural history, observation, anecdote, poetry, and moralizing, which it will be well worth your while to make your own. The getting-up of the volume is exceedingly handsome, with lovely paper and print, and full of illustrations. Children would devour it, and eat it over and over again for the fiftieth time. Every copy sold, is sure to be worn out with constant use."-Puritan Recorder.

"This is one of the most charming books we have seen issued from the New York press in many a day; and it comes to us most appropriately at the opening of summer, when the people it describes come into active life. We almost feel disposed to apologize to the publisher for being so long in noticing it. But by some 'untoward' circumstance or other, it passed beyond our reach. We could not help imagining that, according to a natural law, so great was its attraction, the copy laid on our table either carried off somebody, or somebody carried off it-the same thing to us-so that we could not do it justice at an earlier day. We now, though late, pay our respects to it. The paper, the type, the exquisite delicacy of the engraving, the tasteful style of the binding, the enchanting nature of the subject, and the fascinating manner in which it is written, render it altogether a gem of its kind. Most of the busy gold-seeking race of mankind, care but little about natural histories of the insect people; and for ourself we must say, that in our boyhood days, we never cared to look farther among this people than the butterfly and the bee; to chase the one was among our greatest pleasures, and to be chased by the other, among our greatest terrors; for who would not dread the sting of a bee? To those who have found the minute and systematic classification of Kirby and Spence, of Rennie and Jardine, of Burmeister and Westwood, dry and uninteresting, this volume will be a desideratum, as the author has made 'philosophy in spirit science in earnest,' and thrown around the subject such a 'charm of adventitious interest and reflected consequence,' as renders it wholly irresistible. If, then, any of our readers have one single grain of taste for the fine arts, or curiosity to know anything about the antics of the cricket, the winter life of the fly, the aeronautic expeditions of the spider, the transformations of the silk-worm, the art of war among the wasps, the political and domestic economy of the bee, and the navigation of water-devils, so called, he will here find the whole invested with an interest which throws the Arabian Nights and Don Quixote into the shade. This gives marvellous facts-these but marvellous pictures. We prophesy an extensive circulation for this volume."

Ch. Intelligencer.

"We have received a copy of this beautiful and instructive work, and have perused a portion of its contents with unusual satisfaction and delight. It is gracefully and enticingly written, and gradually involves the reader in the study and investigation of a branch of natural history, which he might never have penetrated without the literary inducements and charms of a book of this description. In addition to its intrinsic merits, it is a beautiful ornament, and will rank with the finest annuals of the day."-Penn. Statesman.

"This is a remarkable production, dedicated to Kirby and Spence, the well known entomologists, and to Professor Forbes, the interesting historian of zoological instincts. The object of the work is to give, in an interesting, attractive, and amusing form, sketches of the habits of the insect world. It is beautifully got up, and abounds in quaint and humorous illustrations."

Boston Atlas.

"This is a series of very entertaining essays by an observer of nature, and written with a view to direct attention to the habits of the insect world. The author does not confine himself to the subject like a teacher, but rambles pleasantly about like an amateur. The work is beautifully printed, and magnificently illustrated."-Philadelphia Ledger.

PHILOSOPHERS AND ACTRESSES.

BY

ARSENE HOUSSAYE.

With Beautifully-engraved Portraits of Voltaire and Made. de Parabera

HANDS FILLED WITH ROSES, FILLED WITH GOLD, FILLED WITH BLOOD. THE HUNDRED AND ONE PICTURES OF TARDIF, FRIEND OF GILLOT. THREE PAGES IN THE LIFE OF MADAME DE PARABERE.

DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD UPON THE LIVING.

"THE title of Arsène Houssaye's volume is not to be literally understood. There is more in it than falls at first upon the tympanum of our intelligence. The scene and action of the book are by no means restricted to academic groves and theatrical green-rooms. Its author allows himself greater latitude. Adopting a trite motto, he declares the world a stage. His philosophers and actresses comprise a multitude of classes and characters; he finds them everywhere. Artists and thinkers, women of fashion and frequenters of courts, the lover of science and the favored of wit and beauty-the majority of all these, according to his fantastical preface, are philosophers and actresses. Only on the stage and at the Sorbonne, he maliciously remarks, few actresses and philosophers are to be found. "To a good book a title is a matter of minor moment. It was doubtless, difficult to find one exactly appropriate to a volume so desultory and varied as that of Houssaye. In the one selected he has studied antithetical effect, as his coun. trymen are prone to do; but we are not disposed to quarrel with his choice, which was perhaps as good as could be made. Philosophers certainly figure in his pages -often in pursuits and situations in which few would expect to find them; actresses, too, are there-actresses as they were in France a century ago, rivalling, in fashion, luxury, and elegance, the highest ladies of the court, who, on their part, often vied with them in dissipation and extravagance. But Houssaye is a versatile and excursive genius, loving change of subject, scene, and century; and he skips gayly down the stream of time, from the days of Plato and Aspasia to our own, pausing here and there, as the fancy takes him, to cull a flower, point a moral, or tell a tale.”—Blackwood's Magazine.