-that in order of time the egg-like mollusc
had taken precedence of the fish, and the fish of the reptile; and that
an intermediate order of creatures had once abounded, in which, as in
the half-developed frog, the natures of both fish and reptile were
united. But, though unacquainted with this strange analogy, the
transformations were of themselves wonderful enough to fill for a time
my whole mind. I remember being struck one afternoon, after spending my
customary spare half hour beside the pond, and marking the peculiar
style of colouring in the yellow and black libellulidae in the common
wasp, and in a yellow and black species of ichneumon fly, to detect in
some half-dozen gentlemen's carriages that were standing opposite our
work-shed--for the good old knight of Conon House had a dinner-party
that evening--exactly the same style of ornamental colouring. The
greater number of the vehicles were yellow and black--just as these were
the prevailing colours among the wasps and libellulidae; but there was a
slight admixture of other colours among them too: there was at least one
that was black and green, or black and blue, I forget which; and another
black and brown. And so it was among the insects also: the same sort of
taste, both in colour and the arrangements of colour, and even in the
proportions of the various colours, seemed to have regulated the style
of ornament manifested in the carriages of the dinner party, and of the
insect visitors of the pond. Further, I thought I could detect a
considerable degree of resemblance in form between a chariot and an
insect. There was a great _abdominal_ body separated by a narrow isthmus
from a _thoracic_ coach-box, where the directing power was stationed;
while the wheels, poles, springs, and general framework on which the
vehicle rested, corresponded to the wings, limbs, and antennae of the
insect. There was at least sufficient resemblance of form to justify
resemblance of colour; and here _was_ the actual resemblance of colour
which the resemblance of form justified. I remember that, in musing over
the coincidence, I learned to suspect, for the first time, that it might
be no mere coincidence after all; and that the fact embodied in the
remarkable text which informs us that the Creator made man in his own
image, might in reality lie at its foundation as the proper solution.
Man, spurred by his necessities, has discovered for himself mechanical
contrivances, which he has afterwa