A remarkable statement occurs in a Report by one of the government naturalists on the Injurious Insects of the West, namely that in the United States the loss of agricultural products through the ravages of insects amounts to 'probably more than two hundred millions of dollars each year, and that from one-quarter to one-half of this sum might be saved by preventive measures.'
Another item from beyond the Atlantic is the gigantic cuttle-fish, which was found after a storm at Catalina, on the coast of Newfoundland. The measurements of this monster were: circumference of body seven feet; length of tentacular arms thirty feet; of the ventral arms eleven feet, and eye-sockets eight inches diameter. This, the largest specimen ever preserved, is now in the New York Aquarium. With a grasp of sixty feet when living, it must have realised the descriptions in old writers of horrid sea-monsters that devoured divers, and enveloped even ships with their terrible arms. It is not the first that has been found on the shores of Newfoundland.
Readers who prefer the study of geography when mixed with adventures will find instruction and entertainment in Mr Alfred Simson's Notes of Travel Across South America from Guayaquil to the Napo, an affluent of the great river of Brazil, as published in the last number of the Geographical Society's Journal. Among descriptions of perilous incidents, of laborious exertions, and of narrow escapes, are accounts of wonderful scenery, of natural products, and of some of the native tribes, which make us aware that much yet remains to be discovered in that mountainous interior. In one place a party of the numerous Jívaros tribe was met with, one of the most independent and warlike in South America, who withstood alike the attacks of Incas and Spaniards, and have still a habit of killing white people. A Jesuit padre who had resided among them three years, told Mr Simson 'that he found it impossible to make any progress with them.'
On another occasion Mr Simson explored the almost unknown Putumayo, one of the largest of the Amazonian tributaries, navigable to the foot of the Andes, eighteen hundred miles from the sea. This voyage, aided by the Brazilian government, with a view to steam-navigation, occupied fifty-seven days, beset by hardships, and the plague of the blood-thirsty Pium flies, all of which Mr Simson appears to have overcome by indomitable resolution.
In reply to further inquiries made regarding vegetable size, we are told that 'the best and purest, if not the cheapest, is the haï-thao, which is sold by Messrs Renault aîné et fils, 26 Rue du Roi de Sicile, Paris. Its price (last year) varied from 5.50 to 7 francs per kilogramme.' We are further told that this 'gum' was applied to the sizing of cotton cloths with good results, and that it might prove equally useful for the sizing of other materials such as paper. To one gallon of water, four ounces of the size are added and well boiled, the result of which is a jelly which gets very thick when cool. Besides the haï-thao, there are other kinds of size made from sea-weeds, such as the gélase of M. Martineau, druggist, St Parchaise, Charente Inférieure—sold at 3.50 francs per kilogramme; the thao-français, sold by M. Steinbach, Petit Guerilly, near Rouen, from 3.50 to 5 francs; and the ly-cho of M. Fichet, 8 Rue de Chateau, Asnières, Seine. Of the foregoing we believe the haï-thao size to be the best.
[THE ROLL-CALL OF HOME.]
'FOR VALOUR.'
A soldier came from distant lands, to seek his childhood's home:
A gallant boy he marched away, when first he longed to roam
With colours flying o'er his head, with music's thrilling strain;
But now a saddened, dying man, he wandered home again.
He left his love, the village belle, and cried, in careless glee:
'When medals shine upon my breast, a hero's bride thou 'lt be.'
To bring his mother laurels back, his youthful heart had yearned;
A simple cross, a life of toil, were all that he had earned.