-birds do no mischief." I am happy, then, to tell you that they
are as useful as they are pretty. You all know what are called
plant-lice, those nasty green or black flies called Aphides, which
cover the leaves or branches of so many trees and flowers, and do most
terrible mischief. Well, the lady-birds, both when they are larvae and
when they are beetles, eat these pests, and help to keep their
devastating swarms in check. I have frequently seen an aphis in the
mouth of a lady-bird; and the larva, a curious six-footed grub, about
the third of an inch long, which you may often see late in the summer
and the autumn, is still more fond of aphis food. Mr. Curtis says two
lady-birds cleared two geranium plants of aphides in twenty-four
hours. The species we are looking at is the "seven-spotted lady-bird;"
there is another very common kind, whose scarlet wing-cases have one
black spot on the centre of each. This species is subject to
considerable variety; it is called the "two-spotted lady-bird." There
is another you may often find; it is small and yellow, with eleven
spots on each wing-cover. This is called the "twenty-two-spotted
lady-bird;" it is an elegant little creature. It is interesting to
note how the observation of some particular animal has led naturalists
to the choice of their favorite study. Mr. Gould tells us that his
first inclination to the study of birds arose from his father having
once lifted him up to peep into a hedge-warbler's nest. His admiration
for the beautiful blue eggs led him to devote his time to ornithology,
or the study of birds. If I remember rightly, Kirby's mind was
directed to the study of insects by noticing the wonderful vitality
shown by a little lady-bird beetle, which, after having been immersed
twenty-four hours in spirits of wine, on being taken out actually flew
away. "What is the meaning," asked Mary, "of the nursery rhyme about
the lady-bird?

Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly away home,
Your house is on fire, and your children will burn?"

Indeed, I cannot tell you. There are different versions of the old
song. One runs thus:

Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly away home;
Your house is on fire, your children at home,
All but one that lives under the stone,--
Fly thee home, lady-bird, ere it be gone.

In Yorkshire and Lancashire it is--

Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly thy way home,
Thy house is on fire, thy children all roam,
Except little Nan, who sits in