ons was brought: Shelley drew forth some bank notes, hurried
to the bar, and returned as hastily, bearing in triumph under his arm a
mahogany box, followed by the officious waiter, with whose assistance he
placed it upon the bench by his side. He viewed it often with evident
satisfaction, and sometimes patted it affectionately in the course of
calm conversation. The solar microscope was always a favourite plaything
or instrument of scientific inquiry; whenever he entered a house his
first care was to choose some window of a southern aspect, and, if
permission could be obtained by prayer or by purchase, strightway to
cut a hole through the shutter to receive it. His regard for his solar
microscope was as lasting as it was strong; for he retained it several
years after this adventure, and long after he had parted with all the
rest of his philosophical apparatus.

Such is the story of the microscope, and no rightly judging person who
hears it will require the further accumulation of proofs of a benevolent
heart; nor can I, perhaps, better close these sketches than with that
impression of the pure and genial beauty of Shelley's nature which this
simple anecdote will bequeath.

[In parting with this very ingenious series of papers, we beg to concur
in the well-expressed wish of the Editor of the _New Monthly Magazine_,
"that their author could be tempted to give the world a complete history
of one whose peculiar and subtle nature he so well comprehends."]

* * * * *

THE NATURALIST.

* * * * *

NEW SPECIES OF BAT.--(VESPERTILIO AUDUBONI.)

(_By Richard Harlan, M.D._)

Of the numerous creatures which attract our admiration, or excite
our fears, the greater part display their appetites, or develope
their instincts, during the day time only; especially--with few
exceptions--all those remarkable for beauty of plumage, and vocal
melody. Predacious animals are chiefly distinguished for their nocturnal
habits; and ideas of rapine, terror and blood, are ever associated with
the tiger, the hyena, and the wolf. Among the feathered tribes, the
_owl_ and the _bat_, also companions of darkness, are shunned
by many, as horrible objects, and full of ill-omen. Haunted castles,
ruined battlements, and noisome caverns, are the chosen abodes of these
noctural maurauders, and it is to such associations that these animals
are indebted for the unamiable character they