Until lately the Ichneumon had not a well-determined name in the methodical catalogues. Naturalists have mostly described it rather by character than figure. Figures were indeed given by Gesner, Aldrovandi, and others, but not sufficiently distinct to guard against mistake. Even Buffon mistook the Mangouste for it, to which he has applied all the descriptions properly belonging to the Ichneumon. The name “Ichneumon” is Greek, and is indicative of the habits of the animal, and was first applied to it by Herodotus. I trust that the above sketch may serve to point out the animal and its habits to the reader with sufficient distinctness. H. D. R. * * * * * MODERN EDUCATION.--“Larning--larning--larning,” is the cry of father an’ mother--if my boy had the “larning,” what a janius he’d be! In coorse, ye old fools, your _bouchal_ would be a swan among the goslins; but it isn’t “larning” half the world want: instead of “larning,” by which they mean cobwebs picked out of dead men’s brains, if they would get some discipline. Discipline--discipline--discipline, that’s the only education I ever saw that brought a boy to any good. What’s the use of battering a man’s brains full of Greek and Latin pothooks, that he forgets before he doffs his last round jacket, to put on his first long-tailed blue, if ye don’t teach him the old Spartan virtue of obedience, hard living, early rising, and them sort of classics? Where’s the use of instructing him in hexameters and pentameters, if you leave him ignorant of the value of a penny piece? What height of bletherin’ stupidity it is to be fillin’ a boy’s brains with the wisdom of the ancients, and then turn him out like an _omadhaun_ to pick up his victuals among the moderns!--_Blackwood’s Magazine._ TO OUR READERS.