for the whole body.
Others unite in a manner resembling more civilised societies of men.
This is the case with the heavers. They perform great public works by
the united efforts of the whole community--such as damming up streams
and constructing mounds for their habitations. As these are works of
great art and labour, some of them probably act under the direction of
others, and are compelled to work, whether they will or not. Many
curious stories are told to this purpose by those who have observed them
in their remotest haunts, where they exercise their full sagacity.

_F_. But are they all true?

_Mr. S._ That is more than I can answer for; yet what we certainly know
of the economy of bees may justify us in believing extraordinary things
of the sagacity of animals. The society of bees goes further than that
of beavers, and in some respects beyond most among men themselves. They
not only inhabit a common dwelling, and perform great works in common,
but they lay up a store of provision, which is the property of the whole
community, and is not used except at certain seasons and under certain
regulations. A bee-hive is a true image of a commonwealth, where no
member acts for himself alone, but for the whole body.

_Evenings at Home._

[Illustration: A HERONRY.]

* * * * *

PALMS.

These beautiful trees may be ranked among the noblest specimens of
vegetation; and their tall, slender, unbranched stems, crowned by
elegant feathery foliage, composed of a cluster of gigantic leaves,
render them, although of several varieties, different in appearance from
all other trees. In some kinds of palm the stem is irregularly thick; in
others, slender as a reed. It is scaly in one species, and prickly in
another. In the _Palma real_, in Cuba, the stem swells out like a
spindle in the middle. At the summit of these stems, which in some cases
attain an altitude of upwards of 180 feet, a crown of leaves, either
feathery or fan-shaped (for there is not a great variety in their
general form), spreads out on all sides, the leaves being frequently
from twelve to fifteen feet in length. In some species the foliage is of
a dark green and shining surface, like that of a laurel or holly; in
others, silvery on the under-side, as in the willow; and there is one
species of palm with a fan-shaped leaf, adorned with concentric blue and
yellow rings, like the "eyes" of a peacock's tail.

[Illustration: PA