372 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 







EAGLE-RAYS IN MOTION (AFTER MANGELSDORF). 



Very similar to the devil-fish, showing method of "submarine flight. 



with the devil-fish. One case is on 

 record where a shoal of devil-fish, 

 sweeping hy at flood tide, approached 

 so near the shore as to come in contact 

 with a water fence, the firm posts of 

 which they seized and tried to tear up 

 till they lashed the water into a foam 

 with their powerful wings. 



It is a peculiarity of the devil-fish 

 that instead of laying many thousands 

 or even millions of eggs, it normally 

 has only a single young one at birth. 

 It appears, however, that to properly 

 reproduce the species, only a single 

 young one is necessary. For a baby 

 devil-fish, sometimes being as broad 

 as five feet and weighing twenty 

 pounds or more, is well able to take 

 care of itself. In a number of respects 

 the young* fish grows up under nursing 

 and training remarkably like that of a 

 human being. It is nourished, fot 

 instance, from its mother's "milk." 



Nor sigfht nor sound but has the fresh- 

 ness of novelty, and one rambler, at least, 

 in his maturer years is still a boy at 

 heart. — Abbott. 



THE DEATH OF LEAVES. 



It is pleasant to walk over the beds of 

 these fresh, crisp, and rustling leaves. 

 How beautifully they go to their graves ! 

 how gently lay themselves down and turn 

 to mould ! — painted of a thousand hues, 

 and fit to make the beds of us living. So 

 they troop to their last resting-place, 

 light and frisky. They put on no weeds, 

 but merrily they go scampering over the 

 earth, selecting the spot, choosing a lot, 

 ordering no iron fence, whispering all 

 through the woods about it, — some 

 choosing the spot where the bodies of 

 men are mouldering beneath, and meet- 

 ing them half-way. How many flutter- 

 ings before they rest quietly m their 

 graves ! They that soared so loftily, how 

 contentedly they return to dust again, 

 and are laid low, resigned to lie and 

 decay at the foot of the tree, and afford 

 nourishment to new generations of their 

 kind, as well as to flutter on high. They 

 teach us how to die. One wonders if 

 the time will ever come when men, with 

 their boasted faith in immortality, will 

 lie down as gracefully and as ripe, — with 

 such an Indian-summer serenity will 



