344 THE NATUEALIST. 



order to adapt the insect to aquatic life. The anterior pair are short and 

 strong — the middle pair much longer and slightly covered with hair, the 

 tarsi being terminated by two long sharp claws — the posterior long and 

 very strong, and covered on opposite sides with long hair, giving them 

 much the appearance of oar-blades. By powerful strokes with these they 

 are able to dart most rapidly through the water, rendering their capture 

 no easy matter. The legs of aquatic beetles undergo similar modifications. 



The eye again is beautiful, showing, when under the microscope, the 

 hexagonal facets most distinctly. 



It is most interesting for any one of a contemplative mind to sit upon the 

 margin of a retired pond, on a beautiful summer day, watching the move- 

 ments of its inhabitants. When tired of gazing he will recline on the 

 grassy sward and from the scene before him he will conjure up others of 

 grander proportions. The Newt will assume the bulk of the Cayman — 

 the Stickleback the dimensions of the giant fish of other climes. He will 

 revel in the midst of tropical scenes. If he be a Geologist — from the 

 small Newt he will wander back to long bygone ages — he will see the 

 huge Enaliosaurians gliding about the waters the Pterodactyle 



With two huge and dusky pinions, 

 With a bosom smooth and rounded, 

 With a bill like two great paddles, 



soaring majestically through the air, and the immense Chelonians brows- 

 ing on the luxuriant tree ferns. The frog will bring before him the 

 Labyrinthodon, that giant Batrachian, that formerly walked over the sands 

 of seas occupying the greater portion of that part of the world now in- 

 habited by Englishmen. The '' bullhead," or " miller's thumb " {Cottus 

 Gobio), with erectile cephalic spines, will take him back to the seas of the 

 Devonian age. He will see the Ptericthys, Coccosteus, and Cei)halaspis, 

 with a thousand other mail clad warriors, desporting themselves gaily in 

 those ancient seas. " These, and far more than these," beholds the Ge- 

 ologist in his waking dream. His mind wanders through unnumbered 

 ages of the past, and through untold periods of the future. 



Wakefield, January, 1865. 



