38 OBJECTS, ADVANTAGES, AND 



This plant, unlike others, is in its full growth during the winter season ; 

 and the rein-deer, accordingly, thrives from its abundance, notwith- 

 standing the unfavourable effects of extreme cold upon the animal 

 system. 



There are some insects, of which the males have wings, and the 

 females are grubs or worms. Of these, the Glow-worm is the most 

 remarkable : it is the female, and the male is a fly, which would be 

 unable to find her out, creeping, as she does, in the dark lanes, but for 

 the shining light which she gives, to attract him. 



There is a singular fish> found in the Mediterranean, called the 

 Nautilus, from its skill in navigation. The back of its shell resembles 

 the hulk of a ship ; on this it throws itself, and spreads a thin mem- 

 brane to serve for a sail, paddling itself on with its feet as oars. 



The Ostrich lays and hatches her eggs in the sands ; her form being 

 ill adapted to that process, she has a natural oven furnished by the sand, 

 and the strong heat of the sun. The Cuckoo is known to build no nest 

 for herself, but to lay in the nests of other birds ; but late observations 

 show that she does not lay indiscriminately in the nests of all birds ; she 

 only chooses the nests of tiiose which have bills of the same kind with 

 herself, and therefore feed on the same kind of food. The Duck, and 

 other birds breeding in muddy places, have a peculiar formation of the 

 bill : it is both made so as to act like a strainer, separating the finer 

 from the grosser parts of the liquid, and it is more furnished with nerves 

 near the point than the bills of birds which feed on substances exposed 

 to the light ; so that it serves better to grope in the dark stream for 

 food, being more sensitive. The bill of the Snipe is covered with a 

 curious net- work of nerves for the same purpose ; but a bird, (the 

 Toucan or Egg-sucker,) which chiefly feeds on the eggs found in birds' 

 nests, and in countries where these are very deep and dark, has the 

 most singular provision of this kind. Its bill is very broad and long; 

 when examined, it is completely covered with branches of nerves in all 

 directions ; so that, by groping in a deep and dark nest, it can feel its 

 way as accurately as the finest and most delicate finger could. Almost 

 all kinds of birds build their nests of materials found where they 

 inhabit, or use the nests of other birds ; but the Swallow of Java lives 

 in rocky caverns on the sea, where there are no materials at all for the 

 purpose of building. It is therefore so formed as to secrete in its body 

 a kind of slime with which it makes a nest, much prized as a delicate 

 food in eastern countries. 



Plants, in many remarkable instances, are provided for by equally 

 wonderful and skilful contrivances. There is one, the Muscipula, Fly- 

 trap, or Fly-catcher, which has small prickles in the inside of two leaves, 

 or half leaves, joined by a hinge ; a juice or syrup is provided on their 

 inner surface, and acts as a bait to allure flies. There are several small 

 spines or prickles standing upright in this syrup, and upon the only 

 part of each leaf that is sensitive to the touch. When the fly therefore 

 settles upon this part, its touching as it were the spring of the trap 

 occasions the leaves to shut and kill and squeeze the insect; so that its 

 juices and the air arising from their rotting serve as food to the plant. 



In the West Indies, and other hot countries, where rain sometimes 

 does not fall for a great length of time, a kind of plant called the 



