NEST MAKING : ITS ORIGIN AND USE. 335 



the caddis fly builds over her body her tiled tube of shells or pebbles, or 

 covers it with thatched moss, for the same purpose. The animated bodyof 

 sarcode known as a Rhizopod evidently is moved by the desire 

 Common ^q preserve its protoplasmic structure, when it gathers diatoms 

 tural Aim ^^^'^ ^^^^ °^ sand from which to rear around itself its beautiful 

 architectural armor or encasing wall. The nest making spider^ 

 Epeira trifolium or Theridium riparium, is manifestly moved by the same 

 disposition to shelter the soft abdomen, which is the most assailable and 

 vulnerable part of her body. 



From the lowest form of Rhizopod, through these more highly organ- 

 ized insects and arachnids, we may ascend to man, who occupies the sum- 

 mit of the zoological pyramid, the crown and king of creation. 

 Mans j^mj j^Q^g ^iie same outcome of life. In the great cathedrals 



. , which he rears to the Almighty, or in the humble cottages 



tecture. . & j > t> 



which he builds, alike in stone wall, in tiled or shingled or 



thatched roof, we may see the methods of his humbler fellows of the 



creature world, only carried out upon a loftier scale and with a nobler 

 purpose. 



Thus, in the nesting architecture of living things, the naturalist may 

 see, as on so many other fields of observation, the harmony which pev- 

 vades creation. 



, " From harmony, from heavenly harmony. 



This universal frame began : 

 From harmony to harmony, 

 Through all the compass of the notes it ran, 

 The diapason closing full on Man." 



What is the meaning of this harmony? By what dominating Force, 

 through what natural laws has it been accomplished and is it main- 

 tained ? These are problems which have occupied the thoughts 

 jj of students of nature, and upon which they have honestly and 



earnestly divided. We may indulge the hope that when the 

 realm of life has been sufficiently explored, from the larger knowledge of 

 facts there may issue, in this matter also, substantial harmony. 



By whatever theory one may account for these facts, certainly the facts 

 themselves show that an unexpected degree of harmony pervades all the 

 home building industry of the smaller creatures that inhabit the globe in 

 common with more highly organized animals. The traces everywhere ap- 

 pear of one common origin, or (as many would prefer to express it) of one 

 Originating Mind, whose Will, the source of all natural forces, is expressed 

 in the infinite variety of forms and methods which these natural forces are 

 working and have wrought through all the ages of time. 



