2J$ STUDIES OF NATURE. 



apprenticefhip ; and directed by an inflinct more 

 infallible than experience ? How came the elec- 

 trical power to be conferred on the torpedo, invi- 

 fibility on the caméléon, and the light of the flars 

 thernfelves on a fly ? Who taught the aquatic-bug 

 to Hide along the waters, and another fpecies of the 

 fame denomination to fwim upon the back ; both 

 the one and the other for catching their prey, 

 which hovers along the furface ? The water- fpider 

 is ftill more ingenious. She inclofes a bubble of 

 air in a contexture of filaments, takes her ftation 

 in the middle, and plunges to the bottom of the 

 brook, where the air-bubble appears like a globule 

 of quick- filyer. There, fhe expatiates under the 

 fhade of the nymphéa, exempted from the dread 

 of every foe. If, in this fpecies, two individuals, 

 different in fex, happen to meet, and to fuit each 

 other, the two globules, being in a ftate of ap- 

 proximation, become united into one, and the 

 two infects are in the fame atmofphere. The Ro- 

 mans, who constructed on the mores of Baia?, fa- 

 loons underneath the waves of the Sea, in order to 

 enjoy the coolnefs, and the murmuring noife of 

 the waters, during the heats of Summer, were lefs 

 .dexterous, and lefs voluptuous. If a man united 

 in himfelf thofe marvellous faculties which are the 

 portion of infeds, he would pafs for a god with 

 fris fellow-creatures, 



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