The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 20, No. 569, October 6, 1832 by Various
page 21 of 55 (38%)
page 21 of 55 (38%)
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would, no doubt, deliver in Paris, in boxes properly contrived, any
number of these creatures, in every stage of their existence, and even in the egg, should that be desired: and if twenty dozen were turned out in different parts of England, there cannot remain a doubt but that, in a few years, they would be common through the country; and, in our summer evenings, be exquisitely beautiful. Vigne, in his _Six Months in America_, says:--"At Baltimore I first saw the fire-fly. They begin to appear about sunset, after which they are sparkling in all directions. In some places ladies wear them in their hair, and the effect is said to be very brilliant. Mischievous boys will sometimes catch a bull-frog, and fasten them all over him. They show to great advantage; while the poor frog, who cannot understand the 'new lights' that are breaking upon him, affords amusement to his tormentors by hopping about in a state of desperation." _The Vampire Bat_.--Bishop Heber's opinion of the innocence of this creature by no means agrees with what one has read of his bloodthirsty habits; and particularly the instances given by Captain Stedman, in his _Travels of Surinam_, who, more than once, individually, experienced the inconvenience of the Sangrado system of blood-letting, or, more properly, blood-taking, pursued by this practitioner. "Non missura cutern, nisi plena cruoris hirudo." HOR. "This leech will suck the vein, until From your heart's blood he gets his fill." |
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