The Grand Haven news. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1858-18??, 1860-12-19
Wonders of Natural History.

The following curious and beautiful
account of the wonders OF Natural His
tory is taken from ST. Pierre, the author
of " Paul and Virginia" If the same
things were told in fable we should be in
clined to look upon the author as a man
of marvellous fancy:
One day in summer, while l was busy
in putting in order some observations
which l had made upon the harmonies Of
this globe, / perceived upon a strawberry
plant, which had been accidentally placed
in my window, some small flies, which
were so exceedingly beautiful that / took
q fancy to describe them. Next day ]
saw a different sort upon the plant, and
these, too, described. In the course OF
three weeks, proceeding in this manner,
| wrote descriptions of thirty-seyen diff
ferent species of insects which resorted
to my strawberry plant. At length they
came in such crowds, and presented such
a variety, that l was obliged to relinquish
this study, though very amusing, because
l had neither leisure, nor, TO confess the
truth, expression.
The insects which l observed were al
distinguished from each other by their
colors, their forms, and their motions.
There were some that shone like gold ;
others were. of the color of silver, and
others Of brass; some were spotted, some
striped, blue, green, brown, chesnut-color-
ed. The heads of some were rounded
like turban; those of others were drawn
out in the figure of a cone; some were
dark, like tuft of black velvet; Others
sparkled like ruby. There was not less
diversity in their wings. In some they
were long and brilliant, like transparent
plates of mother-ofpearl; in others, short
and broad, resembling the network Of
the finest gauzo. Each had a particular
manner of disposing and managing his
wings. Some carried theirs perpendicu-
larly; others horizontally and they seem
ed to take pleasure in displaying them.
Some flew spirally, like butterflies; 9th
ers rose into the air by flying against the
wind. This is like the mechanism of the
paper kite, which rises while the wind is
against il.
Some settled upon the plant merely to
deposit their eggs; others, to shelter
themselves from the sun. But The great
er part came for reasons with which am
totally unacquainted; for some came and
went in incessant motion; others remain
ed a considerable time, removing only
parts of their bodies. A great number
were entirely motionless, and were occu-
pied, perhaps, like myself, in making OBJ
servations. paid no attention to many
tribes that were attracted by my strawber-
ry, because they were sufficiently well
known-such as the snail, which nestles
under the leaves; the butterfly, which
hoyers round; the beetle, which digs al
the root; the small worm, which finds the
means of life in the leaves; the wasp and
the bee, which hum around the blossoms
the gnat, which sucks the juice Of the
stem; the ant, which licks up the gnat
and, to outwit the rest, the spider, which
makes prey of most Of these, and which,
to catch them, spreads his net all over the
neighborhood.
Upon examining the leaves of this
plant with magnifying glass, which
magnified only trifiing degree, found
them divided into compartments, sur
rounded by bristles, separated by canals,
and strewn with glands. These compart-
ments appeared TO me like large verdani
Enclosures, their bristles like vegetables
Of particular order, Of which some were
upright, some inclined, some forked, and
some followed into tubes, from the ex.
tremity of which liquid is distilled; and
their canals, as well as their glands
seemed full of brilliant fluid. In plants
of different species these bristles and
,bo;r ,,londs avhihif forms colora and