Illustrated. The Three Parts complete in One Volume. Small 4to, Half
Leather, $1.12; or, separately, in Cloth, Part I., 45 cents; Part II.,
48 cents; Part III., 48 cents.
* * * * *
A beautiful and useful work. It presents a general survey of the kingdom
of nature in a manner adapted to attract the attention of the child, and
at the same time to furnish him with accurate and important scientific
information. While the work is well suited as a class-book for schools,
its fresh and simple style cannot fail to render it a great favorite for
family reading.
The Three Parts of this book can be had in separate volumes by those who
desire it. This will be advisable when the book is to be used in
teaching quite young children, especially in schools.
* * * * *
Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.
_Sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, on
receipt of the price._
[Illustration]
COLUMBIA BICYCLE.
Bicycle riding is the best as well as the healthiest of out-door sports;
is easily learned and never forgotten. Send 3c. stamp for 24-page
Illustrated Catalogue, containing Price-Lists and full information.
THE POPE MFG. CO.,
79 Summer St., Boston, Mass.
CHILDREN'S
PICTURE-BOOKS.
Square 4to, about 300 pages each, beautifully printed on Tinted
Paper, embellished with many Illustrations, bound in Cloth, $1.50
per volume.
The Children's Picture-Book of Sagacity of Animals.
With Sixty Illustrations by HARRISON WEIR.
The Children's Bible Picture-Book.
With Eighty Illustrations, from Designs by STEINLE, OVERBECK,
VEIT, SCHNORR, &c.
The Children's Picture Fable-Book.
Containing One Hundred and Sixty Fables. With Sixty Illustrations
by HARRISON WEIR.
The Children's Picture-Book of Birds.
With Sixty-one Illustrations by W. HARVEY.
The Children's Picture-Book of Quadrupeds and other Mammalia.
With Sixty-one Illustrations by W. HARVEY.
* * * * *
Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.
_Sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, on
receipt of the price._
OUR CHILDREN'S SONGS.
* * * * *
Our Children's Songs. Illustrated. 8vo, Ornamental Cover, $1.00.
* * * * *
This is a large collection of songs for the nursery, for childhood, for
boys and for girls, and sacred songs for all. The range of subjects is a
wide one, and the book is handsomely illustrated.--_Philadelphia
Ledger._
Songs for the nursery, songs for childhood, for girlhood, boyhood,
and sacred songs--the whole melody of childhood and youth bound in
one cover. Full of lovely pictures; sweet mother and baby faces;
charming bits of scenery, and the dear old Bible story-telling
pictures.--_Churchman_, N. Y.
The best compilation of songs for the Children that we have ever
seen.--_New Bedford Mercury._
* * * * *
Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.
HARPER & BROTHERS _will send the above work by mail, postage prepaid, to
any part of the United States, on receipt of the price_.
Harper's New and Enlarged Catalogue,
With a COMPLETE ANALYTICAL INDEX, and a VISITORS' GUIDE TO THEIR
ESTABLISHMENT,
Sent by mail on receipt of Nine Cents.
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE, N. Y.
[Illustration]
Of these two objects the first is not a hand, and the second is not a
windmill. What are they?
[Illustration]
ANOTHER SQUARE PUZZLE.
The puzzle is to draw two squares in the positions shown by the diagram,
without lifting the pencil from the paper, or crossing one line with
another.
Let our little readers exercise their ingenuity over this apparently
simple problem.
HOW TO MAKE A CUCUIUS.
BY FRANK BELLEW.
You would like to be able to mate a cucuius, would you not? We will tell
you. But perhaps you would like to know what, in the name of Memnon, a
cucuius is? Well, we will tell you that too.
A cucuius, or cucuij, is a kind of beetle, about three inches long,
which emits a very brilliant light from two large protuberances in its
head, which look like its eyes. It is called the lantern-fly in English,
and lives in South America. The light it gives is so bright that you can
read a book by it. The natives employ them in place of candles to
illuminate their rooms while performing their domestic work. We have
seen one exhibited in a room where eight gas-burners were in full blaze,
and yet its two great demoniac-looking eyes (or what appeared to be
eyes) shone more brightly than the most brilliant of precious
stones--with an intensity, it will be no exaggeration to say, equal to
the electric light. The effect was perfectly startling, and rather
appalling.
To give light, however, is not the only good quality this wonderful
insect possesses: it is a deadly enemy to gnats, by which the natives of
the Spanish West Indies are greatly annoyed. When they wish to rid
themselves of these pests they procure two or three of the cucuiuii, and
let them loose in the room, when they soon make short work of the enemy.
The method of catching the cucuius adopted by the natives is to repair
to some open piece of land with a flaming fire-brand, which they wave
vigorously backward and forward, calling out all the time, "Cucuie,
cucuie, cucuie." This attracts the insects to them, when they are easily
captured with a small net. What a blessing these cucuiuii would be to us
be-bitten inhabitants of the United States if Mr. Cucuius would only
treat our mosquitoes with the vigor that he does the gnats of the
tropics!
In South America they are used as ornaments for the hair and dresses of
the ladies; and on certain festivals young people gallop through the
streets on horseback, brilliantly illuminated, horse and rider, with
these insects, secured in little nets, or cages made of fine twigs woven
together. The effect is marvellous, producing in the dark evening the
appearance of a large moving body of light. "Many wanton, wild
fellowes," as an old writer describes them, rub their faces with the
flesh of a killed cucuius, as boys with us sometimes do with phosphorus,
to frighten or amuse their friends.
[Illustration: The Cucuius, or Lantern-Fly.]
And now we will tell you how to make a very fair--by no means so
brilliant--imitation of the cucuius. By looking at our picture you will
see the shape of the insect. Cut this out of a piece of cork about three
inches long, and make the legs of thin wire (after the manner of the
spider we described in a previous number); then get some strips of thin
tin-foil, and gum them on the back of the cucuius; then paint over the
whole with transparent green color (oil paints if possible). Now gouge
out two holes about the size of the head of a common match, and then cut
off the heads of two common matches, and insert them into the aforesaid
holes, and your cucuius will be complete. To make the eyes shine, rub
them with oil or water. If your insect is painted with oil-colors, you
can place it in a vessel of water, for it is in that element that the
real cucuius shines most brightly.
You can make a still more brilliant imitation of the cucuius by filling
the eye-holes with grains of pure phosphorus, easily procured at a
druggist's, or with a paste made of tallow and phosphorus, which is less
combustible than the pure article. But as both these things are very
dangerous to handle, we would not recommend their use except with the
consent and in the presence of a grown person. Another point with regard
to the handling of phosphorus, which applies also to matches, is that it
is apt to destroy the teeth, particularly where any decay has already
taken place. For this reason only persons with sound teeth are employed
in match factories. Therefore never put the end of a match in your
mouth.
[Illustration: A PLEASANT DAY IN THE COUNTRY.]