enough to allow them to pass easily, and have access to the young brood. On the approach of winter, when their honey-cells are not sufficient to contain all their stock, they elongate them considerably, and thus increase their capacity. By this extension, the intervals between the combs are unavoidably contracted; but in winter, well-stored magazines are essential, while, from their comparative state of inactivity, spacious communications are less necessary. On the return of spring, however, when the cells are wanted for the reception of eggs, the bees contract the elongated cells to their former dimensions, and thus re-establish the just distance between the combs which the care of the brood requires. But this is not all. Not only do they elongate the cells of the old combs, when there is an extraordinary harvest of honey, but they actually give to the new cells which they construct on this emergency a much greater diameter, as well as a greater depth.

"The queen-bee, in ordinary circumstances, places each egg in the centre of the pyramidal bottom of the cell, where it remains fixed by the natural gluten; but in an experiment of Huber, one whose fecundation had been retarded had the first segments of her abdomen so swelled, that she was unable to reach the bottom of the cells. She therefore attached her eggs (which were those of males) to their lower side, two lines from the mouth. As the larvae always pass that state in the place where they are deposited, those hatched from the eggs in question remained in the situation assigned them. But the working-bees, as if aware that, in these circumstances, the cells would be too short to contain the larve when fully grown, extended their length, even before the eggs were hatched.

"The working-bees, in closing up the cells containing larve, invariably give a convex lid to the large cells of drones, and one nearly flat to the smaller cells of workers; but in an experiment instituted by Huber, to ascertain the influence of the size of the cells on that of the included larva, he transferred the larvae of workers to the cells of drones. What was the result? Did the bees still continue to exercise their ordinary instinct? On the contrary, they now placed a flat lid upon these large cells, as if aware of their being occupied by a different race of inhabitants."

Huber relates, that the bees of some of his neighbours protected themselves against the attacks of the death's-head moth, by so closing the entrance of the hive with walls, arcades, &c., built of a mixture of wax and propolis, that these marauders could no longer intrude themselves.

"A German artist," says Mr. Spence, "a man of strict veracity, states, that in his journey through Italy, he was an eye-witness of the following occurrence :-He observed a species of scarabæus busily engaged in making, for the reception of its egg, a pellet of dung, which, when finished, it rolled to the summit of a small hillock, and repeatedly suffered to tumble down its side, apparently for the purpose of consolidating it by the earth, which at each time adhered to it. During this process, the pellet unluckily fell into an adjoining hole, out of which all the efforts of the beetle to extricate it were in vain. After several ineffectual trials, the insect repaired to an adjoining heap of dung, and soon returned with three of his companions. All four now applied their united strength to the pellet, and at length succeeded in pushing it out; which being done, the three assistant beetles left the spot, and returned to their own quarters."

Mr. Duncan gives the instance of a hen, which made use of the artificial heat of a hot-bed to hatch her eggs.

Dr. Darwin observed a wasp with a large fly nearly as big as itself; finding it too heavy, it cut off the head and the abdomen, and then carried

off the remainder, with the wings attached to it, into the air; but again, finding the breeze act on the wings, and impede its progress, it descended, and deliberately cut off the wings.

It is said that, in a part of the kingdom of Siam, which lies open to great inundations, all the ants make their settlements on trees; no ants'-nests are to be seen anywhere else. Whereas, in our country, the ground is their only habitation.

Mr. Kirby relates a singular anecdote of some of the black ants of India, "which had been prevented for some time from getting to some sweetmeats, by having the legs of the table on which they stood immersed in basins filled with water, and, besides, painted with turpentine. After a time, however, the ants again reached the sweetmeats; and it was found that they did so by letting themselves drop from the wall above the table upon the cloth which covered it."

"A dog belonging to Mr. Taylor, a Clergyman, who lived at Colton, near Wolsey-bridge, was accused of killing many sheep. Complaints were made to his master, who asserted that the thing was impossible, because he was muzzled every night. The neighbours persisted in the charge; and the dog one night was watched, and he was seen to draw his neck out of the muzzle, then go into a field, and eat as much of a sheep as satisfied his appetite. He next went into the river to wash his mouth, and returned afterwards to his kennel, put his head into the muzzle again, and laid very quietly down to sleep."

I have seen it related that a dog in a monastery, perceiving the Monks receive their meals by knocking at a buttery-door, contrived to do so likewise; and when the allowance was pushed through, and the door shut, ran off with it. This was repeated till the theft was detected.

Mr. Spence gives an anecdote, well authenticated, of an ass from Gibraltar, thrown overboard from a vessel at a distance of two hundred miles, which swam ashore, and in a few days afterwards presented himself for admission, when the gate of the fortress was opened in the morning.

Wonderful as the above instances may seem, they form but a small example of the varied instincts by which animals are unconsciously led to provide for their own wants, and to insure the perpetuation of their species. Indeed, everything relating to instinctive manifestations has long and justly been regarded as affording the most important exemplification of the doctrine of final causes, or the inferences of design, and of the adaptation of means to ends in the arrangement of the universe. In fact, the whole plan of the construction of all the different classes of animals bears reference to the instincts with which they are endowed, and would be useless without

them.

T. 1.

CONCEALMENT OF A JACOBITE CHIEF.

THE Messrs. Stuart, in the notes to their "Lays of the Deer-Forest," give the following interesting account of the concealment of Clunie Macpherson, the devoted adherent of Charles Edward, after the battle of Culloden. Of all such cases, it is the most remarkable, for the time of the concealment, the fidelity of the clansmen, and the resources employed:"For nine years he remained concealed upon his own property, in caves, vaults, and huts, supplied with all necessaries, and even comforts, by his clansmen, who not only endangered their liberty in his service, but, for his

support, paid their rents twice over once to the Government Factor, and once to their Chief. His first principal retreat was a cave dug by his people, opposite to Craig-Dhubb, in the woody bank on the south side of the little loch of Uamhaidh. The excavation was carried on during the night, and its entrance concealed by the trees and bushes. Being close to the margin of the lake, the earth was conveyed into the water, and all appearance of its passage carefully removed from the brae. After this retreat had remained long unsuspected, wearying of his confinement, and thinking it safer to have a change of haunts, Clunie caused other cells to be prepared for his reception, so that he might never spend many nights in the same place, nor his people attract attention by going often in the same direction. One of the most secure of his recesses, and which exists at the present day, was a square vault under the house of Dalchulie, three miles from Clunie Castle. It is about eight feet square, and seven feet deep, wainscoted with deal planks, and entered by a trap-door in the floor, which being covered by a carpet, there was no suspicion of its existence. From the dryness of the gravelly soil, it is perfectly free from damp, for which reason it is now used as a store-closet for cheeses. No doubt its trap, and perhaps the scantling, has been removed oftener than once; but in other respects it is exactly in the same state as when last inhabited by its noble refugee. But the most remarkable and ingenious of all the retreats used by Clunie, or any of his unfortunate contemporaries, was the romantic and singular construction called the Cage.' It was situated in the face of a very rough, high, and rocky mountain, named Netternilich, (Leitir na Lice, Gael.; the hill-side of the flat rock;' or, perhaps, more colloquially, the flat rock-side,' that is, of the hill,) still a part of Benalder, full of great stones and crevices, and some scattered wood interspersed; the habitation itself was concealed within a small thick bush of wood. In this romantic retreat Clunie entertained the Prince in his last distresses, previous to his escape from the Highlands; and here the royal fugitive received intelligence of the arrival of the ships destined for his departure. The site of his last remarkable retreat with his faithful adherent is in the heart of the ancient deer-forest of Benalder, one of the most secluded and magnificent ranges of mountain scenery, as well as one of the finest, perhaps to be hereafter the finest, deer country in the highlands. It was a part of the great territory of the ClanChattan, from the time that the early ancestors of the male line, represented by the present Chief, Clunie Macpherson, held it in a hereditary descent which probably owned no dependence even on the Crown, and was derived from an era disappearing into the twilight of history which veils the antiquity of the Celtic tribes.

"In the deep wilderness of the Cage,' Clunie found refuge, after an almost miraculous escape, in which he owed his safety to the vigilance, fidelity, and vigour of his clansmen. Towards the latter time of his seclusion, the success with which he had so long baffled all danger produced some relaxation of extreme caution, and even a degree of confidence, through which, in very bad weather, or the absence of the enemy's patrols, he sometimes ventured to visit his lady, and pass a night in the house which she inhabited, and which, formerly the residence of the Grieve, stood near the ruins of the destroyed mansion of Clunie. (The old house of Clunie stood near the present road to Laggan, and almost on the site of the northern offices in the modern farm-square.) These dangerous ventures were not without suspicion from the officer who commanded the troops of the district, Ensign, afterwards General, Sir Hector Monro. The activity of this

VOL. IV.-FOURTH SERIES.

4 s

subaltern officer for the apprehension of Clunie was distinguished by a vindictive pursuit beyond the vigilance of mere military duty, and inspired by a spirit of revenge against the whole clan Pherson, by the fire of whose battalion his father and uncle had been killed at the battle of Falkirk. It is probable that, for his known desire of revenge, he was appointed to the command of the troops directed against the clan; and he performed the cruel service with unremitting severity and persecution. Upon a stormy, dark, and freezing evening in the depth of winter, suffering from continual exposure to cold, wet, and privation of every kind, and trusting, perhaps, to the inclemency of the night for keeping the detachments in their quarters, Clunie ventured to return to his temporary home. By a singular coincidence, Monro had decided to make a deliberate and particular attack upon the house in the course of the same night. During his pursuit of the Chief, however, he had discovered, that whenever he made a movement for his surprise, the troops were everywhere preceded by secret information. On the present occasion, therefore, he retired to rest as usual, and when all others were asleep, he leaped out of a back window, awakened his men who lay in a barn, and without any disturbance or observation, put them under arms, and took the road for Clunie; other parties had previously been despatched to Dalchuinne, Garva-Mor, and Dalnashalg, and had orders to march in such concert, that all the parties should unite at the same time round the house inhabited by Lady Clunie. The main body, under the Ensign, was within seven miles of its destination, when, passing the cottage of Ian Doan Macpherson, he heard in his bed the heavy tramp of the soldiers, and the clink of their equipments, and immediately observing that they were passing in the direction of Clunie, he sprang up, and, without any clothes but his shirt and kilt, ran off at full speed to give notice of the advance. The path being occupied by the detachment, he had to make a considerable circuit, and proceeded with such speed, that by the time he was half way to Clunie, he was seized with a stitch in his side, which obliged him to stop at a cottage, and call another man out of his bed to carry forward the alarm. Meanwhile, Monro had gained some distance in advance; and it was only by very great exertion that the messenger reached Clunie ten minutes before the soldiers. When he arrived, the Chief was surrounded by a circle of his friends, in whose re-union he indulged a brief forgetfulness of their misfortunes, which was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of the carnach, who rushed breathless into the room with an exclamation that the Saighdearan dearga were at hand. All present started from their seats, and immediately scattered in various directions. Clunie, accompanied by two stout men, proceeded towards the northern hills; but they had not got far when they heard the approach of the detachment from Dalnashalg, and, to avoid them, turned hastily to the west, when, at a little distance, they discovered the advance of the party from Garva. In this jeopardy, they determined to cross the Spey, and descended towards an uncertain and little-frequented ford, called Beala-tart, (Bealach-tart, 'the drought passage,' because it is impassable, except when the river is low from want of rain; for this reason it is very rarely used,) and nearly opposite to Clunie Castle. They gained the river without interruption, but, just as they reached the bank, heard the division from Dalchuinne entering the water on the other side. It need not be told that both the Chief and his two clansmen were excellent deer-stalkers: immediately crouching on the grass, they glided away on their breasts, as they would have drawn themselves up to a deer, and, in a few moments, were

several yards down the bank, where they lay flat under the brink by the water-side. In this ambush they heard the cautious splash of the soldiers passing through the stream; but as soon as their quick tramp receded across the field, they started up, cleared the ford, and finding some horses grazing on the opposite meadow, Clunie mounted on one of them, and the little party, taking the western hills, never halted until they reached Benalder."-Traditions of Badenoch, communicated by Mr. Macpherson of

Bealid.

METHODISM IN FORMER DAYS.

No. XXXV.-SEAMER, NEAR SCARBOROUGH.

(To the Editor of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine.)

THE Occurrences mentioned in this paper were related to me a short time ago by two aged men, John Harland, aged seventy-seven, and William Atkinson, aged eighty-one, who were eye and ear witnesses of what is here narrated; and they appeared to have great satisfaction in recurring to former scenes, when they endured a great fight of affliction.

In the middle and towards the close of the last century, many towns and villages in this kingdom were in an awful state of religious and moral destitution: hence, the great mass of the people were proportionably ignorant and wicked, being "without God, and without hope in the world;" and wickedness of all kinds prevailed to an alarming extent; and especially on the Sabbath-day, as the people were then at liberty to pursue their degrading natural propensities. This was the condition of most of the villages in the vicinity of Scarborough; and Seamer was behind none of them in violation of Sabbath-day decorum.

Mr. Thomas Brown, of Scarborough, a respectable Local Preacher, was the first who introduced Methodism into Seamer. He took his stand in the street, by the side of a house, attended only by three individuals; namely, John Harker, William Harland, and Matthew Crosier; but a very large company of people assembled on the opposite side, attended by the parish Clerk, and his band of singers, consisting of four parts, not to aid the Preacher in the devotional exercise of singing, but to annoy him as much as possible, during the time of service, with their unhallowed psalmody. While those men were thus employed, another party of the same class went behind the house where the Preacher stood, and, by the assistance of a ladder, they contrived to carry abundance of filth of all descriptions in pails, and pour it from the house-top upon the Preacher. Nevertheless, he maintained his standing, and finished his discourse.

A little while after, another Preacher visited Seamer: his name is now unknown. He was accompanied by two or three friends. They took their station near the end of a house adjoining the street, and from that place the Preacher proclaimed unto the people the Gospel of peace; but the rude multitude regarded him not; and their opposition was so powerful, and for the present successful, that he withdrew before he had finished his discourse.

*For a further account of Mr. T. Brown, see Wesleyan Magazine, year 1826, p. 594.