THE LARGE BLACK ANT. COLONEL SYKES related to me an anecdote, with regard to an Indian species of Ant, which he calls the Large Black Ant, instancing, in a wonderful manner, their perseverance in attaining a favourite object, which was witnessed by himself, his lady, and his whole household. When resident at Poona, the dessert, consisting of fruits, cakes, and various preserves, always remained upon a small side-table, in a verandah of the dining-room. To guard against inroads, the legs of the table were immersed in four basins filled with water; it was removed an inch from the wall, and, to keep off dust through open windows, was covered with a table-cloth. At first the ants did not attempt to cross the water, but as the strait was very narrow, from an inch to an inch and a half, and the sweets very tempting, they appear at length to have braved all risks, to have committed themselves to the deep, to have scrambled across the channel, and to have reached the object of their desires, for hundreds were found every morning revelling in enjoyment. Daily vengeance was executed upon them without lessening the numbers; at last the legs of the table were painted, just above the water, with a circle of turpentine. This at first seemed to prove an effectual barrier, and for some days the sweets were unmolested; after which they were again attacked by these resolute plunderers, but how they got at them seemed totally unaccountable, till Colonel Sykes, who often passed the table, was surprised to see an ant drop from the wall, about a foot above the table, upon a cloth that covered it; another and another succeeded. So that though the turpentine and the distance from the wall appeared effectual barriers, still the resources of the animal, when determined to carry its point, were not exhausted, and by ascending the wall to a certain height, with a slight effort against it in falling, it managed to land in safety upon the table. Colonel Sykes asks,-Is this instinct? I should answer,No. The animal's appetite is greatly excited, its scent probably informs it where it must seek the object of its desire; it first attempts the nearest road; when this is barricaded, it naturally ascends the walls near which the table was placed, and so succeeds by casting itself down, all the while under the guidance of its senses.

It is observed, in the Introduction to Etymology, that though ants, during the cold winters in this country, remain in a state of torpidity, and have no need of food, yet, in warmer regions, during the rainy seasons, when they are probably confined to their nests, a store of provisions may be necessary for them. Now, though the rainy season, at least in America, is a season in which insects are full of life, yet the observation, that ants may store up provisions in warm countries, is confirmed by an account sent me by Colonel Sykes, with respect to another species which appears to belong to the same genus as the celebrated Ant of Visitation, by which the houses of Surinam were said to be cleared periodically of their cockroaches, mice, and even rats. The present species has been named by Mr. Hope the Provident Ant. These Ants, after long-continued rains during the monsoon, were found to bring up, and lay up, on the suface of the earth, on a fine day, their stores of grass-seeds and grains of Guinea-corn, for the purpose of drying them. Many scores of these hoards were frequently observable on the extensive parade at Poona. This account clearly proves, that where the climate and the circumstances require it, these industrious creatures do store up provisions.

From these very interesting communications, we

may remark how the functions of animals are varied, the same function being often given in charge to tribes perfectly different in different climates. In temperate regions, the principal agents in disinfecting the air by devouring or removing excrement, belong to the order Beetles; but in India, where probably more hands are wanted to effect this purpose of Providence, the Tree Ants* are called in to aid the Beetles, by building their nests of this foetid mortar, and thus clear the surface of innumerable nuisances, which probably soon dry and become scentless. In Europe, again, no Ants are found to verify Solomon's observation, literally interpreted; but in India we see, and probably it may also be the same in Palestine, provision for the future is not stored up solely by the bees; but the ants, where it is necessary, are gifted with the same admirable instinct.

[KIRBY'S Bridgewater Treatise.]

See Saturaay Magazine, Vol. IX., p. 246.

LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES AND CARRIAGES. THE enterprise and spirit of the body of capitalists who undertook and perfected the Manchester and Liverpool railway, infused extraordinary energy and activity into the mechanical ingenuity of the country. This, combined with one of those felicitous accidents which occasionally produce important effects on the progress of civilization, was the means of developing a quality of the Steam Engine, which, until then, had been altogether undiscovered. That an agent possessing the powers, which steam had been long known to possess, should be capable of propelling loads of unusual amount was only what might naturally have been expected. The projectors of the railroad had, accordingly, laid their account to a large traffic in goods, and had looked forward to such as the staple of their enterprise. When we saw, therefore, a train of wagons, weighing from two to three hundred tons, or a string of carriages containing six or seven hundred passengers, transported by one steam-engine, between Liverpool and Manchester, however much we might admire the agent, no person acquainted with the previous applications of the machine could feel much surprised. The speed, however, of transport, which was effected in the very first experiments made upon the rail-road, was a result of startling importance, which was equally unforeseen by the practical engineer, and the speculative philosopher. It seemed, indeed, to exceed the bounds of credibility, and few could feel a practical conviction, or have a lively faith in it, without themselves being witnesses. In these experiments, an engine travelled at the astounding rate of thirty-five miles an hour. But even this has since been exceeded; we have our selves witnessed an engine, loaded with a carriage containing thirty-six grown persons, moving at the rate of forty-eight miles per hour; and we believ that a case has occurred, in which an engine moved over fifteen miles in fifteen minutes. A short analysis of the means by which such effects have been pro duced, cannot be uninteresting.

A locomotive engine is impelled by two steamcylinders *, the piston-rods of which lay hold of two revolving arms, which are attached to the larger pair of wheels of the engine. The pistons, as they work, cause these arms to revolve, and therefore the wheels to revolve with them, exactly in the same manner as a man turns a windlass, or as the hand turns the key which winds a clock, or a jack. The wheels, which

See Saturday Magazine, Vol. VII., p. 196.

are thus worked by the steam-cylinders, are pressed against the rail-road by that portion of the weight of the locomotive engine which rests upon them, and they adhere to the rail with such force, that, sooner than slip upon it as they revolve, the engine, which is attached to the train of carriages or wagons, advances, so that its progressive motion in a single revolution of the working-wheels is equal to their circumference. Supposing their diameter to be five feet, their circumference will be a little less than sixteen feet. One revolution of the wheels takes place during a double stroke of one of the pistons, that is, while the piston moves from one end of the cylinder to the other, and back again. As there are two cylinders working at the same time, it follows, therefore, that to produce a progressive motion of sixteen feet, four cylinders full of steam are necessary, being at the rate of about a cylinder for every four feet. Now, from these circumstances, it is apparent, that the speed of the engine will depend upon the rate at which the boiler is able to supply steam to the cylinders. If, for example, it can supply six hundred cylinders full of steam per minute, the progressive motion of the engine will be four times six hundred, or 2400 feet per minute, or about twenty-seven miles an hour. The circumstances, which influence the rate at which the boiler produces steam, are, then, the points to be considered. This rate will obviously depend upon the rate at which the fire can impart heat to the water; and a great variety of contrivances have been adopted to expedite this communication of heat. All such contrivances, however, resolve themselves ultimately into the general principle, namely, that an extensive surface of water must be exposed to the radiation of the fire; that the air, which supports the combustion, and which passes from the fuel at a very high temperature, shall not be allowed to escape into the chimney until it has been reduced to a temperature not much above that of the water in the boiler; and that a current, or draft, be maintained in the chimney, sufficiently powerful to draw a quantity of atmospheric air through the fuel to maintain the vivid combustion which is indispensable for the production of so much heat.

To expose a large surface of water to the radiation of heat from the fire, the fire-place is usually surrounded on every side with a thin metal casing, filled with water, communicating freely with the larger chamber of the boiler, of which, in fact, it is only an extension. The roof, the sides, and the back of the fire-place, are formed by this casing, and it may even be extended to the front, except where the fire-door is placed, for the supply of fuel. The heat, radiating from the burning matter, strikes upon every part of this case, and, entering the water within, produces steam-bubbles with great rapidity, which rise by their buoyancy, to the upper part of the boiler. From the fire-place the heated air finds its way to the chimney at the other end of the boiler, through one hundred tubes of about an inch and a half in diameter, which are extended through the water in the boiler, from one end to the other. The lengths and diameters of these tubes are, or ought to be, such, that the air shall be compelled to linger in them, until it be reduced to the temperature before mentioned. It then escapes into the chimney, and its lightness gives it a tendency to ascend, and form a draft. But this natural draft of the hot air would be altogether insufficient for so fierce a combustion as must be sustained, were it not aided by other means, As the hot air passes through these hundred tubes, it imparts its redundant heat to the water in contact with

the tubes, and steam-bubbles are formed, which, like the others, rise to the upper part of the boiler. The most beautiful part of the arrangement is that, by which a sufficiently powerful draft is maintained in the chimmey to support the combustion. After the steam has driven the pistons, it is necessary to eject it from the machines; pipes or tubes are provided for this purpose, in connexion with each cylinder. These pipes are conducted to the chimney, and their mouths presented upwards, so that the steam rushes from them in an upward direction. Now, since the steam is worked in these engines at a pressure considerably greater than that of the atmosphere, it issues from these tubes up the chimney, with very great force, and causes a current of air, or draft, upwards, of proportionate power. This, consequently, produces a corresponding draft through the fire, and it has this remarkable quality, that, in proportion as the speed of the engine is increased, so, in the same proportion, is the quantity of steam, thus projected up the chimney; and, therefore, the draft through the fire is stimulated, as it ought to be, in the proportion, in which steam is required to be supplied to the cylinders. It is said, that this beautiful method of blowing the fire was an accidental discovery: that an engine-maker, not knowing how best to dispose of the waste steam, conducted it into the chimney.

Whatever may have been its origin, it is certain, that, to this contrivance mainly is due the extraordinary velocity, at which these machines have arrived. The extensive surface exposed to radiation, and the contrivance of the small tubular flues, would have effected nothing, unless a combustion could be sustained, to supply heat proportionate to the surface to be acted upon; and any mechanical means of blowing the fire, besides being subject to other objections, would have robbed the engine of a considerable part of its power. This improvement may be justly placed beside Watt's discovery of the method of separate condensation. It has produced effects upon locomotives, not less important than the latter principle did upon the stationary engine.

The form which we have just described, is that in which the locomotives are constructed for the Manchester and other railways in this country. In the attempts which have been made to adapt the locomotive engine to common roads, other varieties of form have, however, been proposed. They do not, indeed they cannot, differ in principle from that we have described; but their practical details are somewhat different. In some, instead of conducting the air from the fire-place through tubular flues, the water itself is conducted in tubes which pass through the fire. In other cases, as well as the fire-place being filled with water, the grate-bars themselves are likewise tubes containing water. Sometimes the roof and sides of the fire-place are formed of tubing filled with water. In some cases, the water is disposed between a series of parallel plates, the alternate intervals containing the fire. In others, a number of cylinders are placed one within another, so as to form a series of concentric cylindrical shells, every alternate shell being filled with water, while the intermediate ones are filled with fire. Without going through these endless varieties of form, it will be seen, that they all resolve themselves into the principle of exposing to the action of the fire as great an extent of surface of water as possible. O. N.

[British and Foreign Review.]

No man lives too long, who lives to do with spirit, and to suffer with resignation, what Providence pleases to com mand or inflict.-BURKE

THE CORAL INSECT*

TOIL on toil on! ye ephemeral train,
Who build in the tossing and treacherous main;
Toil on,-for the wisdom of man ye mock,
With your sand-based structures and domes of rock;
Your columns the fathomless fountains lave,
And your arches spring up to the crested wave;
Ye're a puny race, thus to boldly rear

A fabric so vast, in a realm so drear.

Ye bind the deep with your secret zone.
The ocean is sealed, and the surge a stone;
Fresh wreaths from the coral pavement spring,
Like the terraced pride of Assyria's king;
The turf looks green where the breakers rolled;
O'er the whirlpool ripens the rind of gold;
The sea-snatched isle is the home of men,

And mountains exult where the wave hath been.
But why do ye plant 'neath the billows dark
The wrecking reef for the gallant bark?
There are snares enough on the tented field,
'Mid the blossomed sweets that the valleys yield;
There are serpents to coil, ere the flowers are up;
There's a poison-drop in man's purest cup,
There are foes that watch for his cradle breath,
And why need ye sow the floods with death?
With mouldering bones the deeps are white,
From the ice-clad pole to the tropics bright;-
The mermaid hath twisted her fingers cold
With the mesh of the sea-boy's curls of gold,
And the gods of ocean have frowned to see
The mariner's bed in their halls of glee ;-
Hath earth no graves that ye thus must spread
The boundless sea for the thronging dead?
Ye build,-ye build,-but ye enter not in,

Like the tribes whom the desert devoured in their sin;
From the land of promise ye fade and die,
Ere its verdure gleams forth on your weary eye;—
As the kings of the cloud-crowned pyramid,
Their noteless bones in oblivion hid,

Ye slumber unmarked 'mid the desolate main,
While the wonder and pride of your works remain.
SIGOURNEY.

See Saturday Magazine, Vol. III., p. 219.

THE works of God are many and wonderful; we know but a very small part of them, and we cannot comprehend all the reasons of His conduct in the government of the world. God is so great, so powerful, so just and wise, that we ought not to presume to question anything that He does, nor pry into His works with too much curiosity. We ought rather to be firmly persuaded that He governs all things with wisdom, justice, and goodness, and humbly submit to all His dispensations.-OSTERVALD.

If the mind be well ordered, we cannot enjoy the scenes of nature without grateful hearts, to that bounteous Benefactor, who smooths our passage through the troubles of life with so many pleasing circumstances.-GILPIN

SKETCHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

No. XV.

THE NATIVES; THEIR METHODS OF FISHING, &c. UPON the edges of the flat rocks which jut out into the sea from beneath the headlands of the coast between Port Jackson and Broken Bay, the natives were accustomed to fish for snappers. They are often seen to great advantage when employed in these occupations, and they being very clever at this sport, it is highly amusing to watch their actions and dexterous management; provided as they are, with only the most simple tackle, still they invariably. succeed in catching as many of these fish as they require.

Snappers are voracious fishes, weighing generally from five to fifteen pounds, and even twenty pounds,

and measuring from twenty to thirty inches in length, and often longer. They are also handsome glittering fishes, when first taken out of the water, and they mostly resort near the deep waters, (bottomless to the eye,) at the extremity of these rocks. Probably they find shelter, and places of refuge in the rocky cavities below, from the monsters which prey upon them, for both whales and sharks, of enormous size, frequent those shores, and have been seen within the harbour of Port Jackson.

The head of the snapper is large and bony, the mouth comparatively small, and the teeth are not sharp, but thick and rounded, and the whole fish is covered with large, broad, silvery scales. It must here be remarked, that upon the surface of these foundation rocks, are, here and there, holes or basins of various depths and sizes, which are always filled with salt water, beautifully clear. In these the cunning native catches his bait-the starfish, a creature formed of a dark gelatinous substance, and appearing like a mass of jelly. They are seen at the bottom of the basins fastened to the rock, with their arms radiating from the centre, moving about their arms are provided with most powerful suckers, which enable them to adhere so strongly to any substance, as to be with the greatest difficulty removed: and they have, moreover, the power of emitting a black fluid, which instantly discolours the water all around, thus very often effecting an escape. In addition to this, they have also the power of stinging the hand that touches, very severely, inflicting a pain like that of a burn*.

The natives, therefore, are obliged to be very expert and dapper in first securing a sufficient quantity of the starfish as bait, which, from the circumstances above mentioned, are not easily caught by those who are inexperienced. They then prepare the line in such a manner, that when they throw off the baited end with their right hand, the line will run out its full length. Thus, as shown in the sketch, the natives stand at the very extremity of the rocks, the breakers sometimes forcing them from their position; and, as soon as they have thrown out their line, they cautiously, but gradually, bring it in, coiling it with care as before; but when they feel a bite, they carrying the line under the rocks, and as soon as haul it with great rapidity, to prevent the fish from they have brought it out, they immediately kill it, by piercing the back of the head. In this manner I have seen a native catch eight large snappers in less than half an hour from the time he commenced fishing.

A party of blacks assembled together on the coast for the purpose of fishing for themselves, as they were sometimes accustomed to do, forms an animated and lively group of figures. On these occasions, they make good fires as near their fishing ground as possible, and generally roast and eat their captures as soon as they are caught, until they are all satisfied. While the men are fishing, the women attend the fires, the boys catch bait, and collect oysters. The natives in this instance are correct, for these fish are never so good as when eaten as soon as possible after being taken from the water. Their cooking is certainly rude, but the fish are exceedingly good when cooked in this way. They eat their oysters, also, in a similar manner, by roasting them before the fire until they open.

Having stated in a previous paper that "the natives were not cowards of the deep, but surprisingly bold both in swimming and diving," I will relate a

liated, but wiry or stringy,) which inflict a similar pain or burn. There are some kinds of sea-weed upon the beacnes (no. fo

Magazine.

PRICE ONE PENNY.

THE view which appears in this number of the Saturday Magazine, is reduced from an old engraving which has lately fallen into our hands, inscribed, "North East View of Selborne, from the SHORT LYTHE." A small strip, apparently about an inch wide, has been torn off towards the right hand, leaving the engraving about sixteen inches and a half long, by ten and a half high. It is, however, the only general view of Selborne, which we remember to have ever seen: and we hope that we shall gratify our readers, especially those who have been instructed and delighted like ourselves, by the late Rev. Gilbert White's history of his native village, by presenting them with this view, accompanied by a brief memoir of the author, and of the principal objects introduced into the view.

The following few biographical records of the author were prefixed to his "Works in Natural History," comprising amongst others, The Natural History of Selborne, published by his relative, Mr. J. White, bookseller in Fleet Street, 1802, whose initials, J. W., annexed to the notice, appear to indicate him

as the author.

GILBERT WHITE, was the eldest son of John White, of SELBORNE, Esq., and of Ann, the daughter of Thomas Holt, rector of Streatham, in Surry. He was born at Selborne on July 18, 1720; and received his school education at Basingstoke, under the Rev. Thomas Warton, vicar of that place, and father of those two distinguished literary characters, Dr. Joseph Warton, master of Winchester VOL. X.

School, and Mr. Thomas Warton, poetry-professor at Oxford. He was admitted at Oriel College, Oxford, in December, 1739, and took his degree of bachelor of arts his college. He became master of arts in October, 1746, in June, 1743. In March, 1744, he was elected fellow of and was admitted one of the senior proctors of the University in April, 1752. Being of an unambitious temper, and strongly attached to the charms of rural scenery, he early fixed his residence in his native village, where he spent the greater part of his life in literary occupations, and espepatient assiduity, and a mind ever open to the lessons of piety cially in the study of nature. This he followed with and benevolence, which such a study is so well calculated to afford. Though several occasions offered of settling upon a college living, he could never persuade himself to quit the beloved spot, which was, indeed, a peculiarly happy situation for an observer. He was much esteemed by a select society of intelligent and worthy friends, to whom he paid occasional visits. Thus his days passed, tranquil and serene, with scarcely any other vicissitudes than those of the seasons, till they closed at a mature age, on June 26, 1793.

the result of his observations as above described, was The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, published by him in 1788, in the form of letters addressed to his brother-naturalists, Thomas Pennant, Esq., and the Honourable Daines Barrington, with the former of whom he corresponded from August 4, 1767, to November 30, 1780; and with the latter, from June 30, 1769, to June 25, 1787. His Naturalist's Calendar, his Observations on Various Parts of Nature, and his Summary of the Weather, were made

291