ant a horse. So it did in old Scotch, which
still has not a few French words in its dialect. Burns, in his 'Dream,'
speaks of a horse as a 'noble aiver.'

In old times in Europe, a tenant was bound to do certain carting of
grain or turf for the lord of the manor. In the yearly account this was
set down as aver-age, or, as we might say, horse-age. The tenant had to
strike a balance between his rent and his horse-work done, and this just
proportion came to be known afterwards as average.

Average is a very difficult word to define. One day an Inspector asked a
class what it meant. A little girl eagerly answered, 'What a hen lays
eggs on.'

The Inspector was greatly surprised, but knowing that the child must
have some reason for her answer, he asked her what made her think so,
when she at once pointed to a sentence in her reading-book which said
that 'a hen lays four or five eggs a week on an average.' The little
girl evidently thought that an average was a mat or something of the
kind, on which the hen deposited her eggs.

GAS-LIGHT INSECT-HUNTING.

Why should insects rush eagerly to an artificial light when they do not
attempt to fly towards the moon, however brilliantly she may shine on a
summer evening? We cannot tell, nor why some moths are indifferent to
lamps which make their brethren excited, often to their peril. By
searching gas-lamps, the entomologist can obtain specimens of moths that
would otherwise be difficult to find. Lamps, of course, are most
productive when their place is along a country road, but even in towns
they have their winged visitors after dark.

Dull or cold nights will bring few insects to the lamps, and those would
usually be not worth catching. Earwigs appear--a proof that they can fly
as well as crawl, and as they are insects of rather a shy habit, it is
surprising to find that they are fascinated by a light. Gnats are
abundant, and sundry flies often lie in little heaps at the bottom of
the lamp; sometimes the number of gnats is thus greatly reduced in a
stinging season, when thousands of persons are attacked by these
insects. Beetles occasionally come, and spiders also, not drawn by the
light, but knowing that they will get prey at the lamps. Away from any
town, bats are frequently amongst the evening visitors on the look-out
to secure part of the arriving insects, especially those having plump
bodies.

Many of the moths, to the disappointment of the collector, have their