In one respect, however, the season of the young naturalist is coming on, not going away. The LAND-SHELLS are now in perfection. Our molluscous friends attain their full size in the autumn. During the dry summer weather they hide themselves, and doze or dream away their time.

But when autumn showers are falling, then is the time for the collector to be up and doing. The snails turn out for an airing en masse, sometimes in such numbers as to lead to the idea that it has been raining snails. Earlier in the year the shells are immature, later they are weathered and bleached, and so half spoiled for the cabinet. Living, as you do, on a limestone soil, you ought to be a very successful conchologist, for land - snails abound most on such formations. They want the lime for their shells, and on soils of this kind even the plants which furnish food to the molluscs are rich in mineral constituents. What I have said will also be a hint

327

to you not to hunt during the heat of the day, but rather in dewy morn or eve, when the moisture tempts the snails from their retreats. You will also look rather in damp shady places than in those exposed to the full glare of the sun,-yet this rule certainly has exceptions. It is wise to look in unlikely places as well as likely ones-a rule which my good grandmother used to impress upon me very earnestly when I had lost anything. I was hunting one day under a pile of roadside stones in a Warwickshire lane, in search of beetles; under one of the stones I observed something black, which turned out to be a specimen of the pretty little glossy trident shell. The slightest movement of the stones would have crushed it to atoms Since then I have made a point of poking my nose into all crevices and corners when in search of game. Do likewise, my dear Fred, and as your nose is longer than mine, you will probably meet with proportionately larger success.

Yours ever,

B. BUCKLERSBURY.

XXXV.

We have received replies from Nellie, Lizzie, and Elfie, carefully prepared, and for which we thank them. We prefer, however, in the absence of any original reply which appears to us sufficiently accurate, to give our readers the benefit of a brief extract from "A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews," by Professor Moses Stuart, one of the ablest of American Biblical critics. Professor Stuart thus translates verses 1-6 :-"Wherefore, leaving the first principles of Christian doctrine, let us go on toward a mature state [of religious knowledge]; not laying again the foundation concerning repentance from

works which cause death, and faith toward God; concerning the doctrine of baptisms," &c. He regards the passage as addressed to true Christians; and to the common objection that such cannot be finally cast away, replies, "God treats Christians as free agents-as rational beings," and "guards them against defection, not by mere physical power, but by moral means. Thus have all the sacred writers done, and thus did the Saviour himself."-ED.

XXVIII.

On this solemn occasion David laid aside the distinctions of royalty, and as taking the lead in the wor

ship of God, he wore a linen ephod, the ordinary garments of the priests when officiating, yet sometimes worn by others. But it does not appear he in the least attempted to encroach upon the priestly office.

Saul had neglected the ark and religion; and Michal seems to have had no deep sense of the importance and excellency of heavenly things: but she was possessed with high thoughts of temporal dignity and royalty. Perhaps she considered David's zeal for the ark as a reproach of her father's negligence; at least, she considered his transports of religious joy in the midst of the people as a degradation of his character, and as exposing him to contempt. David, the brave captain, leading forth the people to battle, and returning with them in triumph, she had admired; but David, the saint, leading the people in the ordinances of God, and setting them an example of fervency of spirit in His service, she despised in her heart; yet this was by far the most illustrious part of his character. ELFIE.

It will be observed that Michal's offence was of a threefold character. She offered a public insult to the king her husband; she openly sneered at his manifestations of religious fervour, and thus sought to cast contempt on divine worship; and (ver. 20) she seems to have despised the solemn benediction which David was about to bestow upon her and his family. His indignant reply was not a whit too severe, and the chastisement inflicted upon her was well calculated to bring her to reflection and repentance.-En.

Also by A. H. N. (very good).

XXXIII.

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The woman who carried the chickens to sell

First parted with four, and next two, I can tell;

And then of the SEVEN but one was remaining,

Which soon she disposed of with success unfailing.

And so, reverend sir, the riddle is told,

"Without cutting one," the chickens are sold! MARY.

This woman who went to the market to sell,

By algebraical rules I can tell,
Had SEVEN little chicks in her bas-

XL.

By whom was Babylon founded? and was it built on the ruins of the Tower of Babel ?-JEMIMA S.

XLI.

My first-how shall I tell its worth, when constant, tender, and true? And if you possess it, I strongly suspect this title is also your due. My second may take my prized first from your sight,

And yet there are times when 'tis hailed with delight;

Without its kind aid we but poorly should fare,

And much should we miss the far distant lands' ware.

My whole is sometimes spoken of as "fickle, changing, vain,"

By those who raise a counterfeit, and call it by my name;

But when I'm rightly founded I have power to brighten earth,

To fill the heart with gladness transcending worldly mirth; Though 'mid this shifting, changing scene I can't unbroken grow, Yet in a warmer clime I'll yield my sweets unmixed with woe. MARY.

XLII.

I am a word of 13 letters.
My 9, 7, 8, is a wild animal.
My 10, 11, 12, 13, is the human

My 7, 8, 9, is a vegetable.

QUESTIONS.

XXXIX.

Explain Hab. iii. 3.—HENRY C.

My 12, 3, 5, is a domestic animal.
My 4, 6, 12, is a colour.
My 10, 8, 2, is an insect.

My 1, 9, 5, is an instrument of punishment.

My whole is the name of one who well deserves to be called a great man,"

with book or work, or in pleasant idleness in the garden arbour, or under a tall elm in the near field; of kindly visits, too, among a few cottage homes, where piety made peaceful even sickness and poverty. But amid these enjoyments, now and then, Carrie thought uneasily of Jane, and of her own heedless words; and more than once she had renewed the hopeless search.

One morning she dreamed that the missing coin had dropped, with a stream of water, from the watertap at home; and on awaking she [NOVEMBER, 1866.