Agnes, surpasses the lot of humanity. It is true that some persons are more highly gifted than others; but there is generally some serious drawback that reduces their lot to the level of that of other people; and, generally speaking, no talents are so useful as those which are in a great measure the result of our own industry."

"But why did you wish to see the church, Agnes?" said her father.

"Because, papa, they say the stones of which it is built would not lie still in the valley where the people first wished to build the church; but ran rolling and tumbling along up hill as though they had been mad."

"And the people must be mad who could believe so absurd a story."

"Look, Agnes," said Mrs. Merton, "at that butterfly! Is it not beautiful?"

"Oh, yes!" cried Agnes; "and there is another more beautiful still. How I should like to catch them !"

"We can admire them without catching them," said her mother; "for I don't like to torment poor innocent creatures merely because they are beautiful.

Besides, that is a butterfly, called the Purple Emperor, which it is very difficult to catch, from the great height to which it flies."

"Even if it were not, mamma," said Agnes, laughing, "I do not think the Undercliffe would be a good place for a butterfly chase! But see, there is another butterfly of the same kind.-No, I see it is not, for it has red upon its wings."

"That butterfly," said Mrs. Merton, "is called the Alderman, I suppose partly from his gravity, and partly from his scarlet cloak, which you see he wears with great dignity. The caterpillar of this butterfly feeds on the nettle; and, generally, about July the female butterfly lays a single egg upon each leaf of the plant. The egg to the naked eye is scarcely bigger than the point of a pin; but when examined in a microscope, it is found to be curiously ribbed, almost like a melon cactus. As soon as the caterpillar is hatched, which it is by the heat of the sun, it begins to spin a kind of web, by means of which it draws the leaf together into a roundish hollow shape, so as to form a kind of boat, open at both ends. In this kind of boat, or tent, the caterpillar lives; and it feeds on the lower part of the leaf, till,

in a little time, it becomes perforated with holes. When the caterpillar finds that it has eaten so much of the pulpy part of its tent, as to render the rest unsafe for habitation, it quits its first leaf and seeks a second, which it draws together in the same manner. In this way it continues to devour the different leaves, till it has attained its full size, when it goes into its chrysalis state, in which it remains till it becomes a butterfly."

"What kind of caterpillar is it, mamma?"

"It is of a dusky-green with a great many spines, and a yellow line down the back, with two other narrow yellow lines, one on each side. The chrysalis is of pale brown, becoming greyish below with golden spots. The butterfly, as you see, is very beautiful with its wings expanded; and it is almost equally so, though very different, when it sits on a branch with its wings closed, so as to show their under side."

"How very much I should like to see some of these caterpillars, mamma!" said Agnes," but I suppose if ever I find a caterpillar upon a nettle that this will be it ?"

"You must not be too sure," said Mrs. Merton,

"for there is another caterpillar that feeds upon the nettle, which produces the Peacock butterfly; but that caterpillar is black, with small white spots, and red hind legs. The caterpillars of the Peacock butterfly, also, are found several together, while those of Aldermen, are always solitary;-and there," continued Mrs. Merton, interrupting herself as a butterfly flew past, "is another butterfly that lives upon the nettle. It is called the small Tortoise-shell, and it is extremely beautiful from the rich reddishorange of its wings. This butterfly when its wings are closed is not beautiful at all, as the inside of the wings is of a dusky brown; the caterpillar also is brown."

"You should tell Agnes," said Mr. Merton, "that it was from the golden hue of the pupa case of the small Tortoise-shell butterfly, that the words chrysalis and aurelia have been applied to pupa cases generally. Both words signify golden; though the first is derived from the Greek, and the second from the Latin. Observe also," continued he, addressing Agnes," that all the three nettle butterflies your mamma has just been telling you about belong to the genus Vanessa."

"But there is a butterfly of another genus," said Mrs. Merton, "that is, the lovely little azure blue. Look, my dear," continued she, addressing her husband," it has just settled on that holly."

Mr. Merton looked, and expressed his surprise, as these butterflies are rarely seen so late in the

They now passed a very pretty villa called St. Boniface, and very soon after they arrived at Bonchurch, which Agnes said she supposed was an abbreviation of St. Boniface. Just before they reached