66 66 work; which, we hope, our recommendation will induce many of our readers to purchase:-those of them, at all events, who are not without the opportunity of summer walks." The book contains a brief account of the "Uses and Advantages of Botany," - of the "Method of studying Botany,"-on Gathering Plants for Specimens,"'—on “Drying, preserving, and arranging Specimens," on "the Pronunciation of Terms,". -on "the Linnean System;" which last includes an account of the Classes and Orders; together with an "Explanation of the Terms." Then follow the hundred and seventy-four pages of the "Little English Flora;" containing the arranged specimens of English plants; with twelve plates, 12mo., each containing twenty sketches of British plants; in all, two hundred and forty. As a finished classical treatise on English botany, we do not call attention to this work; but, in the introductory character which it claims, it has really great merit, and it is as having this, that we recommend it. NOTICES OF ANIMATED AND VEGETABLE NATURE, FOR MAY, 1840. BY MR. WILLIAM ROGERSON, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. "Now the bright morning star, day's harbinger, Hail, bounteous May! that dost inspire We welcome thee again, and wish thee long." "THE breath of spring is more fresh in the nostril than the richest perfumes of summer; the springing blade, and the opening bud, are more delightful to the eye, and more redolent of hope to the mind, than the expanded leaf and the full-blown flower; and the music of the spring is Nature's peculiar music,-as if the whole terrestrial creation were a harp newly strung, to be touched in the most joyous strain, in a new song of universal praise to the mighty Maker, benevolent Preserver, and all-bountiful Restorer of a world of beauty. "Who that has been endowed with the ordinary senses; who that can smell perfume, behold beauty, hear melody, or feel that delightful uplifting of the spirit, which fore-promises of eternal life, of the resurrection of the body, of the gathering of bone to his bone, clothing their sinews with flesh, calling them up to the kingdom of God and his Christ, there to dwell in unbroken felicity for ever and ever; who that can observe and feel in this manner, (and what human being cannot, if he will?) can refrain from being present at the annual birth-day of all nature? In the country, the professional labours of the great majority of the people bring them to this; and though they themselves may sometimes not be aware of it, there is a wonderful revival of the strength of man, so as to enable him to go cheerily on with the delightful labours of hope which belong to this beautiful season. But the spirit of the spring is also a searching spirit. It works its way into the very heart of the city; and the man of business begins to loathe those enjoyments, to which he was, it may be, driven by mental vacuity during the winter; and so when the toils of the counting-house are over, he takes a drive, a ride, or a walk, according to his circumstances, across the suburban fields, in high enjoyment of what he possibly could not very well explain, any further than by saying, 'This is a delightful spring evening! how fresh and promising every thing appears!"—Mudie. The brown rat at this time litters near water, the hedgehog hunts for cockchafers, and the mole extends its burrows. The frog, the toad, and the natterjack may be seen in the tadpole state, and also in their second form, like the eft. The bream, the bleak, the minnow, and the chub, deposit their spawn among the gravel, in the shallows of streams; while the eel makes its way up rivers. The flusher, the thrush, the redbreast, the wren, and the blackcap, are now in full song; and, with most other birds, are busy in nest-building, or in hatching. The habits of birds in constructing their nests, are truly worthy the notice of every lover of the works of God, exhibited in the fields of nature. "The house-sparrow builds four or five times in the year, in variety of situations, under the warm eaves of our houses and sheds, the branch of a clustered fir, or the thick tall hedge which bounds our garden; employing, in all these situations, a mass of straw and hay, and, for a lining, feathers from the poultry-yard. The goldfinch forms the cradle of its young with fine mosses and lichens, collected from the apple or pear tree, compact as felt, lining it with thistledown,-a model of beautiful construction. A few loose bents and goose-grass, on the other hand, rudely entwined, with perhaps a sprinkling of hair, suffice for the midsummer nests of the whitethroat and blackcap. The greenfinch builds carelessly in the hedge, with materials of the coarsest kind; while the chaffinch constructs its anxiously-concealed edifice with the nicest art, in the neighbouring beech or elm. The bullfinch requires fine roots for its nest; the grey fly-catcher chooses cobwebs for the outworks of its building. It seems as if Providence had intended that all kinds of portable materials, adapted for the purpose, should be put in requisition, by this variety of choice in the different families, so that nothing might be lost, and that one species might not inconveniently interfere with another."-Duncan's Seasons. "It wins my admiration, To view the structure of that little work- No glue to join; his little beak was all; At the commencement of this month, that notable song-bird, the garden-warbler, arrives, when from the underwood of gardens and plantations he gives out his sonorous strains. The fly-catcher also makes its appearance, and is seen darting up into the air to seize small insects that sport in the sun's rays. The sedge-warbler sings among reeds and rushes, all the day long, and sometimes even in the night season. The nightingale is now in full song, and makes the woods echo with music at the midnight hour: the sweet and powerful strains of this unparalleled warbler will more than repay any one who may wander out into the fields and copses in the dark to hear him. To name the birds that sing in the month of May, if the weather be fine, is unnecessary; for all the feathered race, whether stationary or migratory, that have musical capabilities, now put them into operation. The swallow tribe arrest the attention of every lover of nature at this time. Some are seen skimming along the surface of rivers and streams; others playing around the turrets and chimneys of houses; while others again make high excursions in the atmosphere. "The swallow," says Sir H. Davy, "is one of my favourite birds, and a rival to the nightingale; for he glads my sense of seeing, as the other does my sense of hearing. He is the joyous prophet of the year, the harbinger of the best season. He lives a life of enjoyment amongst the loveliest forms of nature; winter is unknown to him, and he leaves the green meadows of England in autumn, for the myrtle and orange groves of Italy, and for the palms of Africa." This sentiment is thus expressed by Anacreon: "Gentle bird, we find thee here, When Nature wears her summer vest, The insect tribe continue to add to their numbers. Among these may be named several kinds of moths and butterflies,—papilio atalanta, cardamines, ægeria, lathonia, &c. A few butterflies that have passed the inclement season in the chrysalis state, are seen on the wing early in May. Other insects now observed, are field-crickets, the chafer or May-bug, and the forest-fly, which so greatly annoys horses and cattle. The female wasp appears at the end of this month. Various species of the carabus family are seen: notonectæ and water-beetles appear active in ponds; and in old houses the death-watch beetle is heard: lady-cows now abound. This is the season of beauty in the garden: every thing in nature is young and fresh. The flowers of the lilac and laburnum greatly ornament the shrubbery, and delight both the sight and the smell. "Soft tints of sweet May-morn-when day's bright King Sweet perfumed primrose lifts its face to heaven, The little ray-crown'd daisy peeps beneath, Of youth and early love."-ATHERSTONE. The mulberry-tree puts forth its leaves; the orchis (orchis mascula) is now found in moist pastures, distinguished by its broad black-spotted leaves, and spike of large purple flowers: the walnut is in full bloom; the garden affords rhubarb and green gooseberries, for making pies and tarts. "The pink, many varied of vest, The yellow and white asphodel, The banks of rills and shaded hedges are ornamented with the pretty tribe of speedwells; also with the dove's-foot crane's-bill, and the red campion. Various other plants exhibit their beauties at this time. In fact, this is an interesting portion of the year; all nature seems to rejoice, and praise the omnipotent Creator. "Shall man be deficient in grace? Let gratitude banish the thought; The hand of Divinity trace Through May, with munificence fraught." BRIEF ASTRONOMICAL NOTICES, FOR MAY, 1840. BY MR. WILLIAM ROGERSON, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. "Gon of the rolling orbs above! Thy name is written clearly bright For every fire that fronts the sun, Were kindled at thy burning throne." "ASTRONOMY is that department of knowledge which has for its object to investigate the motions, the magnitudes, and distances of the heavenly bodies,-the laws by which their movements are directed, and the ends they are intended to subserve in the fabric of the universe. This is a science which has, in all ages, engaged the attention of the poet, the philosopher, and the divine, and been the subject of their study and admiration. Kings have descended from their thrones to render it homage, and have sometimes enriched it with their labours; and humble shepherds, while watching their flocks by night, have beheld with rapture the blue vault of heaven, with its thousand shining orbs, moving in silent grandeur, till the morning star announced the approach of day. The study of this science must have been coeval with the existence of man; for there is no rational being who has for the first time lifted up his eyes to the nocturnal sky, and beheld the moon walking in brightness, amidst the planetary orbs and the hosts of stars, but must have been struck with admiration and wonder at the splendid scene, and excited to inquiries into the nature and destination of those far-distant orbs. Compared with the splendour, the amplitude, the august motions, and the ideas of infinity, which the celestial vault presents, the most resplendent terrestrial scenes sink into inanity, and appear unworthy of being set in competition with the glories of the sky."-Dick's Celestial Scenery. The SUN presents his beauteous orb in the horizon, between the east and north-east point, on the 1st at thirty-three minutes past four, and on the 24th at fifty-eight minutes after three, when numerous plants unfold their lovely blossoms "to drink in the solar beam," and give out their fragrance to the surrounding air; while the warblers of the grove in harmonious strains hail his return to Albion's spring-clad hills and vales. The Sun descends below the horizon, between the west and north-west point, on the 6th at thirty minutes past seven, and on the 29th at two minutes after eight, leaving the silvery twilight behind him, which, at the end of this month, remains throughout the night, banishing total darkness from our isle. The setting Sun is an interesting object : "Now the noon, Wearied with sultry toil, declines and falls The Moon changes on the 1st, at six minutes past twelve at night; and exhibits her fine narrow crescent towards the northwestern horizon on the 2d day; and sets on the 3d at about a quarter after ten: she sets on the 4th a little before midnight, and on the 7th at a quarter past one in the morning. The Moon |