160 THE CHRONICLES OF A GARDEN. 



not strike at it, but just be off quietly and quickly. It is 

 not easy to avoid ascribing Imman feelings to these insects 

 after one has been watching their ways ; it seems so natu- 

 ral to suppose that they recognise individuals that one is 

 apt to accuse them of ingratitude when they sting the 

 hand that is feeding them, though this they seldom do ; 

 indeed, it ma}'- fairly be surmised that the busier the bees 

 are, the better tempered are they, and the less disposed to 

 notice or be annoyed by a quiet spectator — a hint this to 

 all idle ones. Something to do, and doing it heartily, is a 

 grand preservative against ill-humour in old and young. 



We are getting lower down in the scale of pets when we 

 come to those who merely recognise the hand that feeds 

 them, without being able to shew or feel personal attach- 

 ment ; even this degree of tameness, however, has its 

 charm. But what can be said for a still lower scale of 

 animal life, the zoophytes, and other inhabitants of our 

 drawing-room aquariums ] Not the most vivid imagination 

 can suppose a sea-anemone devotedly attached to its keeper, 

 or can fancy any sort of individual character about these 

 animals at all ; and although the crabs are most amusing, 

 and well worthy of the records of Lewes, Harjier, and 

 others, they belong to a higher order of being, and must 

 not be insulted by being placed alongside of serpulae and 

 sea-anemones. The mania for drawing-room aquariums 

 is passing away, a proof that it was neither for scientific 

 purposes nor for the pleasure of watching the habits of the 

 creatures confined therein, that they were set up ; but to 

 those who have a taste for cither of these pursuits, allied as 



