-The bee,

A more adventurous colonist than man,
With whom he came arcoss the eastern deep,
Fills the savannas with his murmurings,
And hides his sweets, as in the Golden Age,
Within the hollow oak. I listen long
To his domestic hum, and think I hear
The sound of that advancing multitude

Which soon shall fill these deserts. From the ground
Comes up the laugh of children, the soft voice

Of maidens, and the sweet and solemn hymn
Of Sabbath worshippers. The low of herds
Blends with the rustling of the heavy grain

, Over the dark-brown furrows. All at once
A fresher wind sweeps by, and breaks my dream,
And I am in the wilderness alone,"

Bryant.

"There are some bees which lead a solitary life, and seem to exercise a mechanical art. The first of these performs the labor of a carpenter, the next, that of a mason, while the third may be termed an upholsterer.

"The carpenter-bee is almost as large as the humble-bee; not so downy but more deeply colored. In spring, it seeks out some old post, or withered branch of a tree, to commence its habitation, carefully shunning, with a wonderful instinct, the green wood, which, from its toughness, would not suit its purpose. The position, also, as well as the quality, of the material, is taken into consideration; for the bee will not select a place where the sun rarely shines.

"As soon as a piece of dry, rotten wood is found, our carpenter begins to bore in an oblique direction and having gone a sufficient depth to answer the purpose, changes the direction of the cavity, and it is now continued on an axis, perpendicular to the horizon. The insect is thus occupied for weeks, and sometimes even for months.

"What a lesson is here given of perseverance, to those who are continually disposed to change their employment when in the least degree fatigued by its sameness! For days together, the bee may be seen going in and out of the hole,-shoveling out the sawdust which as accumlated from the patient labor. The cavity is from twelve to fifteen inches in length, and frequently large enough to admit a man's finger.

66

After the tube is finished, it is divided into about a dozen compartments, each of which is to receive an egg. The bottom of the tube forms the foundation of the first room. Having the house completed, the bee collects the materials of which to make and pile up in this room a quantity of bee-bread, about half an inch in height. Upon this, one egg is laid; and over the whole mass a roof is formed which serves as a covering to the first division, and a floor to the next above it. Each of these partitions is about the thickness of a fifty-cent piece.

"The bee follows a very systematic plan, as well as a very curious one, in partitioning the house, and in arranging the cells She begins by fastening the particles of saw-dust with a kind of glue around the walls of the cavity, until an annular projection is made. Inside the ring she glues more, and thus works from the circumference to the centre until, at last, a perfect covering of concentrical circles of sawdust is formed.

"Having completed her first cell and deposited an egg, she now proceeds to form another heap of bee-bread, and a second egg is deposited, which she covers with a similar roof of glue and sawdust. A second cell being finished, her labors are continued until the whole cavity is filled by cells, one above another.

"Wonderful as it may seem to us who are gifted with reason, it thus seems that God teaches this little creature not only how to construct its cell, so as to accommodate its young, but to know, the exact quantity of food the grub will consume from the moment of its life until it arrives at maturity; and it deposits precisely that supply which it will want from the period of its tenderest state until the time it shall come out as perfect as its parent.

"The honey-bee, it will be recollected, is furnished with a kind of basket, to carry home the pollen collected in the fields. The carpenter-bee, destitute of this convenience, makes use of a different apparatus to carry food for its nest. Says a distinguished naturalist, Reaumer; I observed several of these little insects walking in the forest of stamens which surround the flower of the poppy. By their bulk and weight they upset and pressed down all the little filaments which crossed their path. During their progress their hind legs became covered with pollen, which adhered to the downy hairs upon their surface. After they had thus gone over several flowers, the last pair of legs appeared as if enveloped in a footless boot.'

"When a load is thus secured, the insect flies home, and brushes off the pullen, which is then mixed with a proper quantity of honey, and deposited in its place.

"Each of the circles visible in the partitions or floors marks a pause in the labors of the architect; and their number bears testimony to the unwearied industry which formed them grain by grain, into a solid mass. The sawdust used for this purpose was a part of that which was removed when the carpenter was excavating the tube. When shoveled out, it fell upon the ground, and formed a little heap. Now, when materials are wanted to floor or roof the apartments, the bee issues forth and alights upon this heap of sawdust, selects a grain, and flies away to the interior of the cavity, and so continues to do, until the work is finished.

"From the order in which the eggs are laid, it follows that the grubs hatched will be of different ages; consequently, the lowest is ready to come out first. But how is this to be accomplished? Shall it wait until all those above have escaped from their cells?

"Nature provides for this emergency. The grubs are placed in the cell with their heads downwards; consequently, the first efforts to move will not be toward the upper cells. The mother-bec makes a hole at the bottom of the cavity, communicating with the lowest cell, and through this opening the young inhabitant escapes. When the food in the next cell is consumed by its occupant, it gnaws a hole through the floor, comes out through the previously vacated cell, and finds its way clear to the outlet which has been provided by its mother.

"Natural history, abounding as it does in interesting facts, presents few things more striking than the industry of this insect. Consider her labor,-boring out a tunnel fifteen or twenty times her own size, descending and then ascending to carry off the sawdust, and then, after having cleaned out the tube thoroughly, returning to this heap of sawdust, and collecting, grain by grain, a sufficient quantity to partition off the number of nurseries which the young bees may require.

"With what language more suitable can we close the account of the habits of this insect-so small in size, yet endowed with such wonderful instincts-than that of David, 'O Lord God, how manifold are thy works; in wisdom hast thou made them all?" (To be continued.)

Educational Intelligence.

CANADA.

UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS.-A scheme bas orginated in Prince Edward Co., having for its object the conferring of a University Scholarship on the most deserving pupil in the schools of that county-the amount to be raised by the proceeds of a series of pleasure excursions in the steamer Trenton, from the 10th to the 16th July. Among the Executive Committee who have taken the scheme in charge, are the following:-Hon. S. Washburn, D. B. Stevenson, Esq., M.P.P.; Absalom Greeley, Esq., Warden; R. Ramsay, Esq., Mayor; and J. Macdonald, Esq., Sheriff.

proceeded as follows:-"Pleasure of Science," Ashton Fletcher, Weston; "British Empire in the East," T. F. Shoemaker, Oswego, N. Y.; "One Idea," Henry Tew, Paris; "Shem, Ham, and Japhet," W. R. Parker, Bradford; "Conquest of Mind," R. A. Montgomery, Etobicoke; "Valedictory," John W. Kerr, Ameliasburg. The formal conferring of the degrees granted by the Senate on the preceding day was then proceeded with. The following are the names of the candidates ranged, under their respective degrees :

B. A.-Robert A. Montgomery, John W. Kerr.

into consideration the facts, causes, and results of the alleged early removal of children from school. The second section, which will consider the systems of education pursued in foreign countries, will be presided over by Lord Lyttelton, and the Rev. William Rogers, M.A., Incumbent of St. Thomas Charterhouse and Chaplain in Ordinary to her Majesty, will act as Secretary. The third section, which will consider various suggestions which have been made for keeping children longer at school, will be presided over by Sir James Kay Shuttleworth, Bart., formerly Secretary to the Committee of Council on Education; the Rev. T. Nash Stephenson,

M. D.-J. R. Agnew, F. L. Bailey, C. V. Berriman, R. C. Curry, W. N. Drake, J. Donnelly, J. Dixon, M.D.; Robert Emery, Byron Ghent, M.D.; W. B. Gowans, Henry R. Haney, M.D.; R. I. Hickey, A.B., M.D.; J. A. Mullen, D. C. McIntyre, Hiram Noble, Fred. Pritchard, John Reeve, G. C. Shannon, F. D. Stevenson, C. D. Tufford.

Ad eundem.-John B. Selley, M.D.; John W. Corson, M.D.; Wm. C. Corson, M.D.

Dr. Geikie, of Toronto, one of the Medical Faculty of the College, then delivered a most admirable charge, replete with the most judicious counsels to the young medical graduates, who could not but appreciate the affectionate earnestness of tone and gentlemanly feeling which characterized the address.

The President then rose and said that he had anticipated the presence of Dr. Ryerson, but owing to the pressure of official duties he had been unable to remain. He (the President) next expressed his great thankfulness that a Session of unusual turmoil and anxiety had been brought to such an harmonious close. The interesting services of the evening then closed with the national anthem and the benediction.-Cobourg Star.

At the late Wesleyan Conference held in the City of Toronto, the Rev. John Ryerson was appointed Governor and Treasurer of Victoria College, vice Rice; the Rev. W. H. Poole, Travelling Agent of the College East of Toronto, and the Rev. L. Warner, Travelling Agent, West.

THOMAS MOLSON'S COLLEGE.-From the Gazette we learn that Thomas Molson, Esq., is about to erect a college and school in this city. The site selected is in the rear of St. Thomas' Church, in which building he has recently fitted up a clock and a fine chime of bells at an expense of £2,000. The college building will be built of brick, four stories high, with four towers. Its proposed frontage will be 230 feet, and its depth 40 feet. It is intended to devote this institution to the education of the poorer classes, and also for the preparation of young men desirous of studying for the ministry in connection with the Countess of Huntingdon's denomination, St. Thomas' Church now being occupied by that denomination, Mr. Molson having brought out a clergyman last fall. In the recent effort made in behalf of McGill College, it will be recollected that the Messrs. Molson founded a chair in that University, and when, therefore, we connect this act of Mr. T. Molson with the other, one cannot fail to admire the munificence which prompts this gentleman thus to seek to confer benefits on those around him.-Montreal Pilot.

DEGREES, MCGILL COLLEGE, MONTREAL.-The following honorary and ad eundum degrees were announced as having been conferred by the corporation :-The honorary degree of LL.D., on Principal Dawson, Canon Leach, the Hon. P. J. O. Chauveau, Superintendent of Education, and E. Meredith, Esq., LL.B. The honorary degree of M.A., on D. Rodgers, E-q., of the High School Department. The ad eundum degree is of M.D., on Dr. Reddie, and of M.A., on B. Chamberlin, B.C.L.

NOVA SCOTIA COMMON SCHOOL FUND.-The Legislative grant to Common Schools in Nova Scotia has been increased £4,000-from £11,000 to £15,000.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

THE NEW EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENT.-Some days since it was announced that a new educational movement was to be inaugurated in London next month, under the presidency of Prince Albert, and that on the second day of meeting sections would be formed with a view to take into consideration various important educational questions. The following arrangements have since been made :-The first section will be presided over by the Bishop of Oxford, and the Rev. F. Watkins, M.A., one of her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, will act as Secretary. The section will take

fourth section, whose business it will be to discuss the "half time" schemes, will be presided over by the Very Rev. Henry Parr Hamilton, MA., Dean of Salisbury; Mr. J. T. Bunce acting as Secretary. The following gentlemen have consented to form the committee for making the necessary regulations, particularly for receiving deputations from all the principal educational institutions throughout the country:-The Marquis of Lansdowne, Lord Lyttelton, Lord Stanley, M.P., the Earl Granville, the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Hon. William Cowper, M.P., Sir J. K. Shuttleworth, Bart., Sir Thomas Phillips, the Very Rev. Dr. R. Chenevix Trench, Denn of Westminster, the Very Rev. H. P. Hamilton, Dean of Salisbury, the Very Rev. R. Dawes, Dean of Hereford, the Venerable John Sinclair, Archdeacon of Middlesex, Mr. Henry Dunn, formerly Secretary to the British and Foreign School Society, the Rev. H. Moseley, Canon of Bristol, Mr. Harry Chester, Mr. J. C. Colquhoun, Mr. Samuel Morley, Mr. Edward Baines, of Leeds, the Rev. Frederick Temple, one of her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, Mr. John Reynolds, and others. Mr. Alfred Hill, and the Rev. John G. Lonsdale, M.A., Canon of Lichfield, and reader at the Temple, have consented to act as Honorary Secretaries. Prince Albert will open the proceedings on Monday, June 22, at Willis' Rooms.

UNITED STATES.

DE VEAUX COLLEGE.-This institution, located on the bank of the

Niagara River, about a mile from the suspension bridge, was formally opened on the 20th inst. The College is designed for the maintenance and education of orphan children, and was built and is endowed from a legacy by Judge Samuel DeVeaux of Niagara Falls. The opening was an occasion of much interest. Addresses were delivered by Bishop De Lancy, Rev. Dr. Gregory, president of the College, and Hon. Washington Hunt, one of the trustees of the college fund, who paid a just tribute to the memory of the founder, whose life he briefly but felicitously sketched.

NEW YORK COMMON SCHOOLS.-We learn that Governor King has appointed W. H. Neilson. T. B. Stillman, Charles C. Nott, Robert A. Adams, and Charles Tracy, a Commission to examine into the condition of the school system of the city, and report to the next Legislature, with a bill to amend the school law. The Legislature at its recent ses-ion passed a bill providiug for the appointment of this Commission.

Literary and Scientific Jutelligence.

EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH WEST.-The British Government is fitting out an exploring expedition for the North West, or Hudson's Bay Territory. It is under command of Mr. Palliser, with Dr. Hector as Geologist, Naturalist and Surgeon; Lieut. Blackstone to take magnetical observations, and a Botanist not named. The expedition may be expected in Canada in a few days, and will proceed from the west of Lake Superior as a starting point, to the Saskatchawan, examining the capabilities of the habitable portion of this great region. Another of its duties will be to endeavor to discover a practicable road through the Rocky Mountains as a means of communication between Vancouver's Island and Canada. The prompt action of the British Government in this matter shows that it has fully awakened to the value of this domain; and we may shortly expect an accurate description of a country which the monopoly of a trading Company has hitherto made a sealed book. The troops about to be sent to Red River are probably intended to assist in or aid this survey.-Montreal Advertiser.

ROUTE TO RED RIVER.-The Canadian Parliament has lately appropriated $20,000 toward opening up a communication with the Red River by way of Lake Superior, &c.

SCIENTIFIC MEETING AT MONTREAL.-At the Meeting of the French

that no education can be sound which does not rest on religious instruction, and that religious truth is too sacred to be modified and tampered with, even in its minutest deductions, for the sake of procuring a general agreement. [Much cheering.] Gentlemen, if these differences were to have been discussed here to-day, I should not have been able to respond to your invitation to take the chair, as I should have thought it inconsistent with the position which I occupy and with the duty which I owe to the Queen and the country at large. I see those here before me who have taken a leading part in these important discussions, and I am happy to meet them upon a neutral ground; happy to find that there is a neutral ground upon which their varied talents and abilities can be brought to bear in communion upon the common object; and proud and grateful to them that they should have allowed me to preside over them for the purpose of working together in the common vineyard. I feel certain that the greatest benefit must arise to the cause we have all so much at heart by the mere free exchange of your thoughts and various experience. You may well be proud, gentlemen, of the results hitherto achieved by your rival efforts, and may point to the fact that, since the beginning of the century, while the population has doubled itself, the number of schools both public and private has been multiplied 14 times. In 1801, there were in England and Wales, of public schools, 2,876; of private schools, 487-total, 3,363. In 1851 [the year of the census] there were in England and Wales, of public schools, 15,518; of private schools, 30,524-total, 46,042; giving instruction in all to 2,144,378 scholars; of whom 1,422,982 belong to public schools, and 721,396 to the private schools. The rate of progress is further illustrated by statistics which show that in 1818 the proportion of day scholars to the population was 1 in 17; in 1833, 1 in 11; and in 1851, 1 in 8. These are great results, although I hope they may only be received as instalments of what has yet to be done. But what must be your feelings when you reflect upon the fact, the inquiry into which has brought us together, that this great boon thus obtained for the mass of the people, and which is freely offered to them, should have been only partially accepted, and, upon the whole, so insufficiently applied as to render its use almost valueless? [Hear.] We are told that the total population of England and Wales of children between the ages of three and fifteen being estimated at 4,908,686, only 2,046,848 attend school at all, while 2,861,848 receive no instruction whatever. At the same time an analysis of the scholars with reference to the length of time allowed for their school tuition shows that 42 per cent. of them have been at school less than one year, 22 per cent. during one year, 15 per cent. during two years, 9 per cent. during three years, 5 per cent. during four years, and 4 per per cent. during five years. Therefore, out of the two millions of scholars alluded to, more than one million and a-half remain only two years at school. I leave it to you to judge what the results of such an education can be. I find further, that of these two millions of children attending school, only about 600,000 are above the age of nine. Gentlemen, these are startling facts, which render it evident that no extension of the means of education will be of any avail unless this evil, which lies at the root of the whole question, be removed, and that it is high time that the country should become thoroughly awake to its existence and prepared to meet it energetically. To impress this upon the public mind is the object of our conference. Public opinion is the powerful lever which in these days moves a people for good and for evil, and to public opinion we must therefore appeal if we would achieve any lasting and beneficial result. You, gentlemen, will richly add to the services which you have already rendered to the noble cause if you will prepare public opinion by your inquiry into this state of things, and by discussing in your sections the causes of it as well as the remedies which may lie within our reach. [Cheers.] This will be no easy matter; but even if your labors should not result in the adoption of any immediate practical steps, you will have done great good in preparing for them. It will probably happen that, in this instance as in most others, the cause which produces the evil will be more easily detected than its remedy, and yet a just appreciation of the former must ever be the first and essential condition for the discovery of the latter. You will probably trace the cause of our social condition to a state of ignorance and lethargic indifference on the subject among the parents generally; but the root of the evil will, I

suspect, also be found to extend into that field on which the political economist exercises his activity-I mean the labor marketdemand and supply. [Hear.] To dissipate that ignorance and rouse from that lethargy may be difficult, but with the united and earnest efforts of all who are the friends of the working classes, it ought, after all, to be only a question of time. What measures can be brought to bear upon the other root of the evil is a more delicate question, and will require the nicest care in handling, for there you cut into the very quick of the working man's condition. His children are not only his offspring, to be reared for a future independent position, but they constitute part of his productive power and work with him for the staff of life; the daughters especially are the handmaids of the house, the assistants of the mother, the nurses of the younger children, the aged, and the sick. To deprive the laboring family of their help would be almost to paralyse its domestic existence. [Cheers.] On the other hand, carefully collected statistics reveal to us the fact that while about 600,000 children between the ages of three and fifteen are absent from school, but known to be employed, no less than 2,200,000 are not at school, whose absence cannot be traced to any ascertained employment or other legitimate cause. You will have to work, then, upon the minds and hearts of the parents, to place before them the irreparable mischief which they inflict upon those who are entrusted to their care by keeping them from the light of knowledge, to bring home to their conviction that it is their duty to exert themselves for their children's education, bearing in mind at the same time that it is not only their most sacred duty, but also their highest privilege. Unless they work with you, your work, our work, will be vain; but you will not fail, 1 feel sure, in obtaining their co-operation if you remind them of their duty to their God and Creator. [Cheers.] Our Heavenly Father, in his boundless goodness, has made his creatures that they should be happy, and in his wisdom has fitted his means to his ends, giving to all of them different qualities and faculties in using and developing which they fulfil their destiny, and, running their uniform course according to his prescription, they find that happiness which he has intended for them. Man alone is born into this world with faculties far nobler than the other creatures, reflecting the image of Him who has willed that there should be beings on earth to know and worship Him, but endowed with the power of self-determination, having reason given him for his guide. He can develope his faculties, place himself in harmony with his divine prototype, and attain that happiness which is offered to him on earth, to be completed hereafter in entire union with Him through the mercy of Christ. But he can also leave these faculties unimproved, and miss his mission on earth. Ile will then sink to the level of the lower animals, forfeit happiness, and separate from his God, whom he did not know how to find. [Much cheering.] Gentlemen, I say man has no right to do this, he has no right to throw off the task which is laid upon him for his happiness; it is his duty to fulfil his mission to the utmost of his power; but it is our duty, the duty of those whom Providence has removed from this awful struggle and placed beyond this fearful danger, manfully, unceasingly, and untiringly to aid by advice, assistance, and example, the great bulk of the people, who, without such aid, must almost inevitably succumb to the difficulty of their task. They will not cast from them the aiding hand, and the Almighty will bless the labors of those who work in his cause. [His Royal Highness concluded amid continued and enthusiastic cheering]

The Rev. J. G. Lonsdale, the Secretary, then read the report, which was to a large extent an echo of His Royal Highness's speech. It also pointed out in detail the course which the business of the Conference was to take. It stated that there had been expended, since 1839, through local voluntary agency, aided by the State, a sum of more than £2,000,000 in the erection of new school buildings, &c., which had afforded the means of education to half a million more children than were previous to that time educated; that the sum of £1,250,000 was annually expended upon the working classes; and that, in addition to those amounts, large sums had been expended for building and maintaining schools, of which no precise return had been procured. The Secretary concluded by calling upon Lord Brougham, who, he said, had been for forty-six years taking an active part in educational movements. to address the meeting.