284 OF NUTRITION. 



its hair, the bird its feathers,* the stag its horns, the serpent its 

 cuticle, the lobster its shell and the teeth that are in its sto- 

 mach, f The fall of the leaves of trees is an analogous circum- 

 stance. The extraordinary reproductive power of some brutes is 

 almost incredible. A lobster can reproduce a claw, a water-newt 

 an extremity : Blumenbach actually observed the reproduction 

 of the whole head with its four horns in a snail, and the com- 

 plete eye, cornea, iris, crystalline lens, &c. in a water-newt. % 



* Feathers which are not cast off have been lately discovered to receive an 

 increase of colour. Linneean Transactions. 1818. 



f- This corroborates the propriety of the view taken by Dr. Front in an un- 

 published paper written many years ago, in which he contends that the teeth are 

 to be arranged with the integuments. Some naturalist has lately published a 

 similar opinion. 



J Gottingen literary notices. 1787. 



