xiv INTRODUCTION. 



Therefore, the Hand which has brought the world 

 out of chaos, has varied the nature of this food ; it has 

 proportioned this universal nourishment to the neces- 

 sities and the peculiar organization of the various species 

 which have to derive from it the power of motion and 

 the continuance of their lives. 



The study whose aim is to make us acquainted with 

 the kind of food adapted to each animal constitutes an 

 interesting branch of Natural History. The bill of fare 

 of every animal is written beforehand in indelible cha- 

 racters on each specific type ; and these characters are 

 less difficult for the naturalist to decipher than are 

 palimpsests for the archaeologist. 



Under the form of bones or scales, of feathers or 

 shells, they show themselves in the digestive organs. It 

 is by paying, not domiciliary, but stomachic visits, that 

 we must be initiated into the details of this domestic 

 economy. The bill of 'fare of fossil animals, though 

 written in characters less distinct and complete, can 

 still be very frequently read in the substance of their 

 coprolites. We do not despair even to find some day 

 the fishes and the crustaceans which were chased by the 

 plesiosaurs and the ichthyosaurs, and to discover some 

 parasitic worms which had entered with them into the 

 convolutions of the intestines of the saurians. 



Naturalists have not always studied with sufficient 

 care the correspondence which exists between the animal 

 and its food, although it supplies the student with infor- 

 mation of a very valuable kind. In fact, every organized 

 body, whether conferva or moss, insect or mammal, 

 becomes the prey of some animal; every organic sub- 

 stance, sap or blood, horn or feather, flesh or bone. 



