like some ancient nations, actually worship them, we have perhaps fallen
into the other extreme, underrate the sacredness of animal life, and
treat them too much like mere machines.

Some species, however, are no doubt more interesting than others,
especially perhaps those which live together in true communities, and
which offer so many traits--some sad, some comical, and all
interesting,--which reproduce more or less closely the circumstances of
our own life.

The modes of animal life are almost infinitely diversified; some live on
land, some in water; of those which are aquatic some dwell in rivers,
some in lakes or pools, some on the sea-shore, others in the depths of
the ocean. Some burrow in the ground, some find their home in the air.
Some live in the Arctic regions, some in the burning deserts; one little
beetle (Hydrobius) in the thermal waters of Hammam-Meskoutin, at a
temperature of 130 deg.. As to food, some are carnivorous and wage open war;
some, more insidious, attack their victims from within; others feed on
vegetable food, on leaves or wood, on seeds or fruits; in fact, there is
scarcely an animal or vegetable substance which is not the special and
favourite food of one or more species. Hence to adapt them to these
various requirements we find the utmost differences of form and size
and structure. Even the same individual often goes through great
changes.

GROWTH AND METAMORPHOSES

The development, indeed, of an animal from birth to maturity is no mere
question of growth. The metamorphoses of Insects have long excited the
wonder and admiration of all lovers of nature. They depend to a great
extent on the fact that the little creatures quit the egg at an early
stage of development, and lead a different life, so that the external
forces acting on them, are very different from those by which they are
affected when they arrive at maturity. A remarkable case is that of
certain Beetles which are parasitic on Solitary Bees. The young larva is
very active, with six strong legs. It conceals itself in some flower,
and when the Bee comes in search of honey, leaps upon her, but is so
minute as not to be perceived. The Bee constructs her cell, stores it
with honey, and lays her egg. At that moment the little larva quits the
Bee and jumps on to the egg, which she proceeds gradually to devour.
Having finished the egg, she attacks the honey; but under these
circumstances the activity which was at first so necessar