chilling blasts of winter. So that they would not be prepared for them, if they were to come, as you say, all at once.

I recollect, you made the same remark about the falling of the leaves; you said, that their gradual change and decay, prepared us for their entire loss.

True; it would be a great shock to our senses to see them cut off at a stroke. And their re-appearance in spring is gradual, that we may have ample opportunity to observe and examine them.

It is surprising that most of the insects and reptiles do not perish by the cold.

Most of them fall into a profound sleep in holes and sheltered places. Not a few of them are very fat at the commencement of their sleep, and they are nourished by this till spring awakens them, when they are very thin and poor. Some of the larger animals, as the bear and the badger, sleep away the greatest part of the cold season. There is, however, no doubt, but that very many insects, reptiles, birds,

and even some of the larger creatures, perish by the severe cold of winter.

And the flowers, Papa, at least those of the field, are all

gone.

I think not; many of the different kinds of mosses are now in bloom; but they are so small, that they are seldom observed. What you would call flowers, are, indeed, very scanty. We shall not, however, be long without the snow-drop, and the sweet primrose.

Will you tell me about the mosses?

They belong to the last class of the Linnæan system. Cryptogamia, Papa.

Yes; the flowers of many of them are invisible to the naked eye; and, of course, cannot so easily be ranked according to the parts of fructification, like the other classes.

Did you not say, that Linnæus had made a different arrangement of plants from the one to which we commonly refer?

Yes, he has divided vegetables into fifty-eight classes; of which the musci, or the mosses, form the

fifty-sixth. They are generally perennials and evergreens. Some of the smallest which have been observed are only the third of an inch in height. They are of slow growth; and the seeds take from four to six months to ripen. Mosses appear an insignificant part of the creation; there can be no doubt but that they were formed for important ends, though we may be ignorant of them. The colours of some of the musci, are very beautiful. They flourish most in winter; and shelter and preserve the seeds and roots of plants from cold. Many birds make their nests, principally of moss; not a few animals make a warm bed of them for winter; and the rein-deer, so important to the Laplanders, live upon a species of moss. seen through a good microscope, most of the mosses appear very curious and beautiful. We are perpetually reminded by the works of the Most High, that he is great and glorious, not only in the formation and arrangement of the planetary worlds, but in the structure of a flower, or an insect, so minute as not to be discovered by the naked eye.

As

The discoveries of the microscope are wonderful. But the objects which in the winter attract our attention are but few, compared with those of the spring and summer!

I am not of that opinion. If we reflect on, and examine into things, we shall find that the works of God which invite our attention in every season, are innumerable.

Why, what have we seen this morning, Papa?

What! why where did you go with me before we entered into the fields?

Very well and what fish did you see there?

Many different kinds; let me see; herrings, codfish, lobsters, crabs, oysters, whiting, and

*

Stay, Edward; these will be enough to occupy us in the present walk. Let us begin with the herring. Its name is derived from the German word heer, an army; because they are usually met with in immense shoals, or armies. It is found in the highest northern latitudes, and in immense multitudes on the American shores. Fish form the fourth class of animals in the Linnæan system. The herring is in the order of abdominales; or those fish which have the ventral placed behind the pectoral fins. Eleven species have been noticed.

When do the principal armies of herrings come to our shores?

They appear usually in April or May off the northern isles of Scotland; about June they come in innumerable multitudes. A Norwegian writer assures us, that the whales which pursue them in great numbers, and dart their water-spouts into the air, give to the