THE PROFUSION OF LIFE. 97 



produced for us ; nay, the very marble of our mantel-piece is the work 

 of once living animals, and is composed of their broken shells. The 

 air we breathe is full of invisible germs of life ; nor need we leave the 

 town and go to the country in search of other living beings than man. 

 There is scarcely a street or alley where, if it be neglected for a time, 

 some blade of grass or struggling weed does not make its appearance, 

 pushing its way through chinks in the pavement or the mortar in the 

 wall ; no spot from which we can not see some insect creeping, or fly- 

 ing, or spinning its web, so long as the hand of man does not destroy it. 



And when we go into the quiet country, leaving man and his works 

 behind, how actively we find life employed ! Covering every inch of 

 the ground with tiny plants, rearing tall trees in the forest, filling the 

 stagnant pools full of eager, restless beings ; anywhere, everywhere, 

 life is at work. Look at the little water-beetles skimming on the sur- 

 face of the shady wayside pool, watch the Avater-snails feeding on the 

 muddy bank, notice the newts putting their heads above water to take 

 breath, and then remember that besides these and innumerable other 

 water animals visible to the naked eye, the fairy-shrimp and the water- 

 flea, and other minute animals, are probably darting through the water, 

 or floating lazily near its surface, while the very scum which is blown 

 in ridges toward one corner of the pool is made up of microscopic 

 animals and plants. 



Then, as we pass over plain, and valley, and mountain, we find 

 things creeping innumerable, both great and small, hidden in the moss 

 or the thick grass, rolled up in the leaves, boring into the stems and 

 trunks of trees, eating their way underground or into even the strong- 

 est rock. The lion, the tiger, and the elephant, roaming over Asia, 

 Africa, and India, rule a world of their own where man counts for very 

 little. Even in our own thickly peopled country hares and rabbits 

 multiply by thousands in their burrows, and come to frolic in the dusk 

 of evening when all is still. The field-mice, land and water rats, squir- 

 rels, weasels, and badgers, have their houses above and below ground, 

 while insects are to be found everywhere, testifying to the abundance 

 of life. Not content, moreover, with filling the water and covering 

 the land, this same silent power peoples the atmosphere, where tiny 

 bats, butterflies, bees, and winged insects of all forms and shapes and 

 colors, fight their way through the ocean of air, while birds, large and 

 small, sail among its invisible waves. 



And by and by we reach the sea, and there we find masses of 

 tangled seaweed, the plants of the salt water, while all along the shores 

 myriads of living creatures are left by the receding tide. In the rocky 

 pools we find active life busily at work. Thousands of tiny acorn- 

 shells, scarcely larger than the head of a good-sized pin, cover the 

 rocks and fling out their thread-like arms in search of food. Small 

 crabs scramble along, or ST^dm across the pools, sand-skippers dart 

 through the water, feeding on the delicate green seaweed, which in its 



VOL. XVIII. 7 



