soon after multiply exceedingly over the whole surface of the water.

I think it is more than probable, that the heat of the sun causes the
marine glow-worm to lay its eggs; at all events it is certain, that
terrestrial insects of this species shine only in the heat of summer, and
that their peculiar resplendency is produced during the period of their
copulation.

G. W. N.

* * * * *



EPITAPHS.

(_For the Mirror._)


The origin of epitaphs, and the precise period when they were first
introduced, is involved in obscurity; but that they were in use several
centuries prior to the Christian era is indisputable. The invention of
them, however, has been attributed to the scholars of Linus, who,
according to Diogenes, was the son of Mercury and Urania; he was born at
Thebes, and instructed Hercules in the art of music; who, in a fit of
anger at the ridicule of Linus, on his awkwardness in holding the lyre,
struck him on the head with his instrument, and killed him. The scholars
of Linus lamented the death of their master, in a mournful kind of poem,
called from him _Aelinum_. These poems were afterwards designated
_Epitaphia_, from the two words [Greek: epi], _upon_, and [Greek: taphios],