a penknife, while the live insect adheres: a more violent push kills them; and they yield a thick liquid substance, similar to that which is produced by crushing any other species of living insect. The spot from whence the coccus has been removed is covered with a downy cotton, which transpires or exudes from the abdominal surface of the insect.

If the coccus of the peach be examined about the end of May, it will be difficult to persuade ourselves that the little skinny globe which presents itself to the eye is an insect: there is no fleshy texture; it has the appearance of a little tortoise-shell, under which is concealed an infinite number of very diminutive grains; these are the eggs of the insect, which, when expelled are hatched under the carcass of their dead parent. If these protuber. ances be removed, beginning at the top and proceeding downwards, so as not to let their eggs fall, they may

1

readily be collected. In these figures the little dots represent the eggs; if, however, the gall-like protuberance be transversely divided with a penknife, both the contents and the arrangement of the eggs will be observed more readily. Hence it would seem, that at first these creatures have a form like many other insects, that after a time they fix themselves to the tree, and suck its juice, and that their extraordinary distention is owing to an innumerable quantity of eggs contained at first within the abdomen, and ultimately protruded. Nature has taught most other insects to protect their young by furnishing them in their period of helplessness with a habitation composed of silk or some other substance. The coccus, however, from the moment the eggs are laid, defends them from the elements and their natural enemies by its own body, and after death still shelters them with its carcass. It may at first sight appear extraordinary that a fleshy body, when dead, should not putrefy; this, how

ever, will be intelligible, if the following figures be atThe first (fig. 1) represents the under sur

tended to.

tace of the insect; this is nearly plane, and is exactly fitted to the tree. As the eggs are protruded, they are placed, by a sort of peristaltic motion, between the skin of the belly and the layer of cotton which covers the spot of the tree to which the insect is attached. As more

eggs are laid, the skin of the belly is pushed nearer that of the back, till at length the two skins are thrust close together by means of the eggs, and the under part of the insect assumes a concave shape (fig. 2). Under the influence of this presure, an absorbing process goes on, which leaves no putrescible matter behind. Hence it arises that, when our little insect yields to the general law, and dies almost immediately after perpetuating the species, its carcass is as sure a protection to its young, when dead, as its body was when alive.

The time during which the young cocci remain in the egg is not determined by Reaumur; he conjectures, however, that they take twelve days, and afterward remain several days under the skin of their mother, before they emancipate themselves, and go out into their little world of leaf or stem. At this period of their existence, they exhibit, in their activity, nothing of the peculiarities, just detailed; they soon, however, select and fix upon a suitable part of a plant: the male insect, which is destined to become a small winged creature, as soon as it has its wings, crawls out backwards from its larval skin, which served it for a cocoon while undergoing its nymphine metamorphosis.

The opening by which they quit their maternal prison is provided also by nature. The posterior portion of the body of the mother is cloven, and canot be exactly fitted to the tree-hence, the young can escape without lacerating those parental remains which had sheltered them even after death.

After having got abroad, they fix themselves to the

leaves of trees, and their growth from June to October, when they enlarge a little, is slow, but it is only in the following April that they begin to assume perceptibly a globular shape. At the falling of the leaf, however, nature has taught them to retire to the stem of the tree, where they finish their life. As soon as the male has acquired wings, it does not fly away, but walks, and it is towards the females fixed on the tree that its steps are directed. The size of the former is so small, in comparison with that of the latter, that the globular body of the female appears a spacious territory, for the diminutive male to walk about.

There are other kinds of gall-insects, which do not cover their young with their bodies, but secrete a quantity of downy cotton, sufficient to form a species of cocoon, on which they perch themselves. The dark spot is the insect, the white bag the cocoon.

THE LADIES' GARLAND.

FEMALE INFLUENCE.

BY CATHERINE E. BEECHER.

Woman has been but little aware of the high incitements that should stimulate to the cultivation of her noblest powers. The world is no longer to be governed by mere physical force, but by the influence which mind exerts over mind. How are the great springs of actions of the political world put in motion? Often by the secret workings of a single mind, that in retirement plans its schemes, and comes forth to execute them only by presenting motives of passion, self interest, or pride, to operate on other minds.

Now the world is chiefly governed by motives that men are ashamed to own. When do we find mankind acknowledging that their efforts in political life are the offspring of pride, and the desire of self aggrandizement, and yet who hesitates to believe that this is true?

But there is a class of motives that men are not only willing, but proud to own. Man does not willingly yield to force. He is ashamed to own he can yield to fear. He will not acknowledge his motives of pride, prejudice, or passion. But none are unwilling to own they can be governed by reason, and even the worst will boast of their being regulated by conscience; and where is the person who is ashamed to own the kind and generous emotions of the heart?-Here, then, is the only lawful field for the ambition of our sex. Woman, in all her relations, is bound to "honour and obey" those on whom she depends for protection and support; nor does the truly feminine mind desire to exceed this limitation of Heaven. But where the voice of authority may never còntrol, the dictates of reason and affection may ever convince and persuade; and while others are governed by motives that mankind are ashamed to own, the dominion of woman may be based on influence the heart is proud to acknowledge.

And if it is, indeed, the truth, that reason and conscience guide to the only path to happiness; and if affection will gain a hold on these powerful principles which can be attained no other way, what high and holy motives are presented to woman for the culture of her noblest powers. The developement of the reasoning faculties, the fascinations of a purified imagination, the charms of a cultivated taste, the quick perceptions of an active mind, the power of exhibiting truth and reason by perspicuous writing-all these can be employed by woman, as well as by man. And with these attainable facilities for gaining influence, woman has already received from the hand of her Maker those warm affections and quick susceptibilities which can most surely gain the empire of the heart.

Woman has never waked to her higher destinies and holiest hopes. She has yet to learn the purifying and blessed influence she may gain and maintain over the intellect and affections of the human mind.-Though

she may not teach from the portico, nor thunder from the forum, in her secret retirements she may form and send forth sages that shall govern and renovate the world. Though she may not gird herself for bloody conflict, nor sound the trumpet of war, she may enwrap herself in the panoply of Heaven, and send the thrill of – benevolence through a thousand youthful hearts. Though she may not enter the lists in legal collision, nor sharpen her intellect amid the passions and conflicts of man, she may teach the law of kindness, and hush up the discords of life. Though she may not be clothed as the ambassador of Heaven, nor minister at the altar of God, as a secret angel of mercy she may teach its will, and cause to ascend the humble but most accepted sacrifice.

THE PRINTING PRESS IN TURKEY.

MR. MOUNTSTUART ELPHINSTONE, in his very interesting account of the kingdom of Caubul, a country near the higher waters of the Indus, between India and Persia, and of the scattered Afghan tribes dependent thereon, gives the following anecdote of the Naikpeekhail, who like the rest profess the Mahommedan religion, but are so barbarous that even reading is considered an unmanly accomplishment among them.

"Some men of the Naikpeekhail found a Mollah, or doctor of the Mahommedan faith, copying the Koran, and not well understanding the case, they struck his head off, saying, 'you tell us these books come from God, and here you are making them yourself.""

The Turks are not so ignorant as this, but even they, a few years ago, when Sultan Selim introduced the art of printing, believed that it was sinful to print the Ko-ran, that nothing but the pen could without impiety multiply the copies of their scriptures. Other works might go through the press, but unfortunately at the time the Turks had no book except the Koran, and so the inestimable benefit of printing was to be thrown away upon them!

The present sultan, Mahmoud, among his many reforms and improvements, has succeeded in setting the