fish and aquatic birds, on which they feed. One, the trionyx Ægyptiacus, is much regarded in Egypt, from the services it renders in devouring the young and eggs of the crocodile. Another, the trionyx ferox of America, lies in ambuscade among reeds and herbage, and seizes its prey unawares; birds, small quadrupeds, reptiles, and young alligators, thus fall victims to its ferocity. The species in the engraving of our last Number, is the trionyx scabra from Sumatra. Closely allied to the present group, and hardly to be separated from it, is the chelys fimbriata, or matamata of Guiana. The carapace is covered with pyramidal points. "It inhabits the fresh-water ponds and rivers near Cayenne, where it conceals itself under the leaves of aquatic plants, exposing only the extremity of its nose, which, from its length, resembles a proboscis in this position it awaits the approach of young birds, and small aquatic animals, which it seizes as they pass near it." This singular tortoise differs from all others in this respect, that its mouth, which is very wide, instead of being terminated by a horny substance, is formed with fleshy lips, as in the batrachia, (frogs, &c.) Here we close this general outline of a race among the most remarkable of the works of the Almighty, which speak of his power, as it is no less displayed in the diversity than in the strangeness of living creaM.

tures.

ORIGIN OF THE RELIGIOUS TRACT

SOCIETY.

[From "Leifchild's Life of Hughes."] In the spring of 1799, a new society, had risen into existence. Its beginning was small, but its latter end has greatly increased. It then resembled the spring-head of some mighty river, hardly awakening notice at its first bubbling up, but increasing its waters, forming channels in every direction for their flow, and swollen by an accession of tributary streams, enriching, fertilizing, and refreshing, by its pure and vital current, almost every country of the globe. This was the "RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY." It originated in a suggestion from the late Rev. G. Burder, who stated from the pulpit at a missionary meeting, in Surrey Chapel, in May 1799, that he wished to form a society for the publication and sale of religious tracts, and invited the ministers present and others who were friendly to such an object, to assemble the next morning to converse upon it at the St. Paul's Coffee House.

was in the place of worship at the time, it need hardly be added, that he was the next morning at the proposed meeting. After some preliminary conversation, Thomas Wilson, Esq., took the chair, and by him our friend was requested to lead the devotions of the assembled group on so novel and interesting an occasion. The disclosures of the last day will alone reveal how fully the pertinent and comprehensive requests then preferred have been answered.

Of the sub-committee immediately formed, to mature and carry into effect the suggestions offered, Mr. Hughes was one; and at the formation of the society was appointed its secretary; which office he continued to hold till his death, a period of thirty-four years. The first account of the plan of the society, together with an address to the public on its behalf, was drawn up by him. There occurs in this address the very principle on which afterwards another and still more magnificent institution was to be built; namely, a principle of conciliation, by way of securing the cooperation of all denominations of christians in the circulation of pure truth.

The institution was soon in operation. Tracts were written and published, and the society quickly assumed that form to which permanence, unanimity, and unbounded utility have been given, under the auspices of Him who is the Originator of every good purpose. At the committee meetings, Mr. Hughes was ever present, and ever ready with his advice, co-operation, and pen. That pen furnished several of the early tracts; a list of which is given below,* and of which evidence has not been wanting of their successful influence; particularly the one addressed to unfortunate females. In the judgment of the committee respecting the tracts that were submitted to their inspection, the literary acquirements and theological knowledge of Mr. Hughes were of great use. If he were somewhat over-scrupulous about the sentiments, and somewhat hypercritical about the style, and if his extreme caution and fear of making an enemy to the institution, might sometimes hold the society back where a bolder hand might have pushed it forwards to advantage, yet these very qualities may have contributed in no ordinary degree to insure its safety and growth in its infant state, and to mature its powers to their present strength and usefulness.

"To a Youth on Purity;" "To the Unfortunate Female;" "To a Prisoner;' "The Importance of Sobriety;" "The Better Gift;" "To the Spectators

understand their prayers in English, or could translate a line from Latin into English." To remedy this evil, Alfred assembled such scholars as the time afforded. Envying their knowledge of Latin, he acquired that language in his thirty-eighth year, sufficiently to translate the only book of Saxon history then extant: he translated other works of great learning, and attempted a complete version of the Bible, the finishing of which was prevented by his early death. He enforced education by refusing to promote the uneducated, as well as by his own example. He insisted that his "ministers," or the persons whom he employed, should endeavour to obtain due knowledge: and, in case of non-compliance, he deprived them of the offices which they held. Aldermen, and mayors, and governors, were forced to go to school, to them a grievous penance, rather than give up their emoluments and their command. Those who were too old to learn, or so utterly unfit for letters as to render their case hopeless, were allowed to find substitutes; a son, or a near kinsman, or failing both, a vassal, or even a slave, who was to learn in the place of his principal: and, at an advanced period of his reign, Alfred, who was called by his biographer, "the truthteller," thanked God that those who sat in the chair of the instructor were then capable of teaching. He usually divided his time into three equal portions: one was employed in sleep and recruiting his body by diet and exercise; another in the despatch of business; a third in study and devotion; and, that he might more exactly measure the hours, he made use of burning tapers of equal length; for at the time when he lived, clocks and watches were totally unknown. And, by such a regular distribution of his time, though he suffered much from illness, this heroic prince, who fought in person fifty-six battles by sea and land, was able, during a life of no extraordinary length, to acquire more knowledge, and even to compose more books, than many studious men, who have made literature the object of their uninterrupted industry.

The impulse given to education by Alfred did not die with him. Translations of parts of the Bible were multiplied in consequence of Alfred's assiduity; and, Mr. Palgrave informs us that, from this or the Anglo-Saxon age, down to that of Wickliffe, or for nearly five centuries, we, in England, can show such a succession of

versions of the Bible, in metre and in prose, as are not to be equalled amongst any other nation in Europe.

The rarity of books in Alfred's time ought to be mentioned among his obstacles; for he is believed to have given a very large estate for a book on a learned subject; a bargain which well accords with the maxim: Learning is better than house and land."

His children, six in number, were taught the Anglo-Saxon psalms, prose, and poetry. Ethelweard, his youngest son, received a sort of public education : he was committed to proper teachers, with almost all the noble children of the province, and with many of inferior ranks. They were all assiduously instructed in Latin, in Saxon, and writing: and when they were old and strong enough, in hunting and gymnastics, as conducive to warlike habits. Alfred likewise founded and endowed schools, so as to perpetuate the benefits of his reign in future ages. Among these the chief were at Oxford; and it has been stated, though not proved, that he founded the University there. It is, however, more certain that the schools at Oxford decayed after Alfred's reign, and that city was burnt by the Danes in 979, and again in 1009; but sacred studies were restored, and the University re-established by a learned Englishman in the year 1133.

THE END OF CHRIST'S SUFFERING.

IN reference to man, the ends of our Lord's suffering were principally these :

1. To absolve and deliver him from guilt, the consequence of sin; and misery, the fruit of guilt: "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins," Eph. i. 7. And surely, had the fruit of Christ's death rested here, it had been a great degree of mercy, if we rightly weighed the heaviness of the burden of guilt, the severity of the wrath of God, and the extremity of that misery that doth and must attend it. If a man under the guilt and horror of some hideous treason, under the severe and inexorable sentence of the laws against him, under the imminent infliction of most exquisite and continuing torments, should but hear of a pardon and discharge from this, how welcome would it be, though the residue of his life were to be spent in exile! But our Lord's purchase rests not here.

2. To reconcile God to his creature. So that it doth not only remove the effects of the anger of God, which is punishment, which may be removed, and yet the anger continue; nor doth it only remove the anger of God, and leave a man in a kind of state of indifferency, as it is between persons that never were acquainted one with another: but it is a state of reconciliation: "That he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby," Eph. ii. 16; "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them," 2 Cor. v. 19. And, certainly, this is a great addition unto the former, that God in Christ should not only pass by our sins, but should no longer look upon us as strangers, but as persons reconciled unto him. And surely a soul sensible of the unhappy condition of being estranged from God, would highly prize a state of reconciliation, though it were in the meanest and lowest relation. "I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants," Luke xv. 19. So that I may not be estranged from thee, reconcile me unto thyself, though in the condition of thy meanest servant. But neither doth the happy fruit of our Lord's sufferings rest here.

3. To bring us unto that near and blessed relation of being the sons of God; "that we might receive the adoption of sons," Gal. iv. 5; "Behold, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be," 1 John iii. 2.-Sir M. Hale.

INSECTS.-No. XXXIX.

HEARING.

(Continued from page 216.) THAT purely rural, little noticed, and, indeed, local occurrence, says Mr. Knapp, called by the country people "hummings in the air," is annually heard in one or two fields near my dwelling. About the middle of the day, perhaps from twelve o'clock till two, on a few calm, sultry days in July, we occasionally hear, when in particular places, the humming of apparently a large swarm of bees. It is generally in some spacious, open spot, that this murmuring first arrests our attention. As we move onward, the sound becomes fainter, and by degrees is no longer audible. That this sound proceeds from a collection of bees, or some such insects, high in the air, there can be no doubt; yet the musicians are invisible. At these times, a solitary insect

or so may be observed here and there, occupied in its usual employ, but this straggler takes no part in our aerial orchestra.

One of the most puzzling sounds to the inquirer is that of the death's-head moth, (acherontia atropos,) when it is caught and kept a prisoner. Sometimes it is like that of a mouse, but much more piteous. Reaumur, after mentioning many experiments, concludes with the conviction that "in the more minute parts of nature's works, there is always something which we cannot explain." He thought it most probable that the cry came from the head, perhaps from the mouth, or rather from the tongue, and it might be by the friction of the palpi against the tongue; for when he unfolded the spiral tongue with a pin, the cry ceased, but was renewed the instant it was coiled up again between the palpi. He then prevented the palpi from touching the tongue, which also stopped the sound, and when only one was permitted to touch it, the sound was much more feeble.

With hearing, the antennæ has, most probably, much to do. It has been used as an argument, says Kirby, that the antennæ are primarily tactors or instruments of touch, that a certain four-winged parasite fly, (fœnus jaculator,) before it inserts its ovipositor, plunges its antennæ into the hole forming the nidus of the bee, to the grub of which it commits its egg. But had those who used this argument, measured the antennæ and the ovipositor of this ichneumon, they would have discovered that the latter is thrice the length of the former; and as these insects generally insert it, so that even part of the abdomen enters the hole, it is clear that the antennæ cannot touch the larva; its object, therefore, cannot be to explore by that sense. Others suppose, that by these organs it scents out the destined nidus for its eggs, but Lehmann has satisfactorily proved that they are not olfactory organs. We can therefore only suppose, either that, by means of its antennæ, it hears a slight noise, produced by the latent grub, perhaps by the action of its mandibles, or else that, by its motions, it generates a motion in the atmosphere of its habitation, which, striking upon the antennæ of the foenus, are by them communicated to its sensory. A similar disproportion is observable between the antennæ and the ovipositor of another parasite fly (pimpla manifestator.) Bees, when collecting honey and pollen, first insert the organs in question into the flowers which they visit; but, as I have more than once observed, they