678 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that he had not been smashed by the metal stamp-obliterators of the 

 post officials. 



By-the-way, curious things are sent me by post. Every week I 

 receive fish of some kind or another by post : young salmon, young 

 trout, young whitebait; also young pheasants, three-legged kit- 

 tens, six-legged kittens, no-headed kittens ; and they generally smell 

 frightfully. The postman always knows my letters without reading 

 the address. Sometimes live things are sent me by post. I lately re- 

 ceived a scorpion, caught alive at Woolwich. He was packed in a 

 jeweller's box, and when he arrived was poisonous enough to sting a 

 mouse severely ; and, once, some kind person killed a viper, and put 

 him into a paper sweet-stuff box ; but, during the journey, the 

 scotched viper came to life, and had to be killed again by the post- 

 master-general, who wrote me an official note about it. I once heard 

 of a pair of jack-boots being sent by parcels post. What next, I can't 

 tell. Send what you like, my friends, only pay the postage, and, if you 

 send vipers or scorpions, kill them first. 



When at home, the habits of the horned frog are, I believe, very 

 much the same as the toad's, lurking about stones, ruins, rocks, etc. 

 Their spines, I believe, are given them for neither offence nor defence, 

 but simply for the purpose of concealment from their enemies. The 

 polar bear among the icebergs wears a coat as white as snow for con- 

 cealment. It is exceedingly difficult to distinguish a sitting partridge 

 when crouched down in a ploughed field. The tiger carries stripes 

 like the jungle. The grouse is like the heather. In fact, most animals 

 have coats given them to conceal them from their enemies, and it is 

 more than probable that the spines of this little lizard serve for the 

 same purpose. 



I do not observe that in the so-called educational programme the 

 subject of natural history is in any way introduced. This is, I think, a 

 great mistake. Children and young people are naturally fond of ani- 

 mals, but they are too often brought up to kill and destroy any thing 

 that looks, as they call it, ugly. I have known ladies scream, and even 

 sometimes nearly faint, if they see an unfortunate spider, and then they 

 go and kill the spider. Others are afraid of mice, frogs, and other 

 harmless creatures. If these individuals had in their youth been 

 taught how there was " evidence of the power, wisdom, and goodness 

 of the Creator" in all created things, they would look upon these 

 common ones with wonder and admiration, instead of being foolish 

 enough to be frightened or pretend to be frightened at them. 

 Leisure Sour. 



