186 THE UNIVERSE. 



Nature has for this purpose endowed it with formidable 

 weapons. These are its fore paws, the outspread end of 

 which has the greatest analogy, both as to the form and the 

 way in which the insect uses it, to the large hands of the 

 mole ; they act like powerful cutting picks, by means of 

 which the animal digs its way into the ground and throws 

 back the particles of earth. 



Other animals of the same class excavate their galleries 

 in a picked soil ; it is in the midst of the tissue of plants 

 that they hollow out their tortuous windings. For this 

 purpose they attack indiscriminately leaves, fruit, and 

 wood ; nothing resists their teeth, which are the instru- 

 ments they perform this work by. 



Reaumur has classed separately the caterpillars which 

 bore galleries between the two layers of the leaves, and 

 very rightly calls them miners. We can any day see their 

 doings on the leaves of our trees, where they carve out 

 winding paths, which are recognized by a white track, 

 caused by the insect having eaten all the green substance, 

 and only left the epidermis of the leaf. 



CHAPTER VIIL 



UPHOLSTERERS AND CARPENTERS. 



Despite the proud preeminence claimed by man, in how 

 few cases will the work of his hands compare with that of 

 the lowest creatures ! Can the thread spun by human 

 means stand comparison with that of the spider ? The 



