THEIR USE. 45 



liimself, or rather looked on wliile lie used tliem. 

 Strange to say, they are didactyle, each being termi- 

 nated by a minute hand or claw of two fingers. They 

 are set, moreover, with radiating hairs, so that in all 

 respects they are the very representatives of the ante- 

 rior feet of the Prawn, which I shall presently have 

 occasion to describe, though placed at the opposite 

 end of the series. And this resemblance is not one of 

 sti'ucture only, hut of functio7i also / for these feeble 

 limbs are the cleansing hrusJies, with which the 

 Broad-claw washes his person, applying them, with 

 the greatest ease, to the lohole surface of the ahdomen, 

 and inferior region of the carapace^ while the fingers of 

 the little hand are used to pick off adhering matters, 

 that cannot be removed by brushing. 



I do not then consider it an useless exercise to seek 

 for the reasons of any organization that seems unusual 

 or abnormal. When once these members that I have 

 been speaking of are seen in natural action, their 

 purposes become evident, and the perfection of their 

 contrivance becomes admirable ; and we may use 

 them as a fresh occasion of ascribing honour to the 

 Infinitely Holy, Wise and Good God, all whose 

 works praise Him. 



" Each shell, each crawling insect holds a rank 

 Important in the plan of Him, who framed 

 This scale of beings ; holds a rank, which lost, 

 Would break the chain, and leave behind a gap 

 Which nature's self would rue." 



Stillingfleet. 



