220 On the Study of Natural History: 
whale. He might almost as well have said, the “scaly rind™ 
of an eel, for they are both equally exempt from a squamose 
covering. r. Shaw also mentions, that ‘a modern writer, 
having Say to allude to the dormant state of the butter- 
fly and moth tribe, during their period of imperfection, has 
evidently shown that he supposed the animal to become. # 
chrysalis, after having appeared in its complete or fying 
state, and has thus Pamies inverted ¢ or reversed the real pro- 
gress of the anim 
“ Thus the gay moth y by sum and Sng gales 
Called forth to wander o’er the dewy vales, 
rom flower to ine; from sweet 2 poecnct db stray, 
Till, tired and satiate with her food and play 
ep in the shade she builds her peaceful ieee; 
Becomes a household nymph, and seeks to aes no more.’ 
But if the poets of the day only were ignorant of natural 
history, we could —ye! no great reason to complain. This, 
however, is not the case. The encyclopzdists frequently 
fill up their pages ith matter which would be disgraceful to 
the dark ages. The following extracts are from the Ency- 
Sane te _Perthensis, and in themselves fully illustrate me 
: (art. Nat. Hist.) “As to the strata of the e 
and deat, the upper parts consist of rag-stone ; the 
next slate; third, of marble, filled with petrifactions? : ad 
fourth again of slate ; ; and lastly, the lowest of free-stone 
__“Ttis generally agreed, that stones are not organic bodies 
os ae ee animals; and therefore it is clear they a 
ed from an egg, like the tribes of the other king 
= The misletoe alw ays grows upon other trees, because the 
dune. that eats the seeds of it, casts them forth with its 
nee 
2 are absurdities, disgraceful to the learning of the 
pesent day, and 7 ecaatiel by the fi ollowing account 
of the pelican -— he brings water from afar, for if 
and for her young: 5 ; and she is furnished og an instrument 
well adapted to - She has arge bag un- 
der throat wie she fills with a quantity of water, suf- 
for many days; and this she pours into the nest to 
eases: 8 oe and teach them to swim. The wild 
ons ers, come to this h their 
Mie but domo hus to the yo young.” ne er) 
~ 
