SOME ANIMAL ARCHITECTS. 



ONE of the most interesting departments of natural history 

 study is that which devotes itself to the elucidation of the 

 manner in which living beings utilise the various materials of 

 the universe in which they exist, for purposes of protection, for 

 offence or defence, or for food, raiment, and the common 

 necessaries of life. Whilst man, in virtue of his superior powers 

 of adapting himself to his surroundings, may excel lower forms 

 in respect of the variety of means and substances he calls to 

 aid in the advancement of his interest and comfort, it must at 

 the same time be admitted that he is frequently surpassed by 

 the unerring skill with which a particular product is utilised 

 and manufactured by his lower neighbours. Indeed, as a 

 rule, the elegance and quality of the products of animal life 

 at large are found to be apparently out of all proportion to 

 the means by which they were elaborated. And in very many 

 instances the lower animal accomplishes, in the way of direct 

 and unassisted manufacture, a work which man may, after all, 

 but imperfectly imitate by the aid of cunning artifice and 

 mechanical contrivance. The production of a silken thread 

 by the " spinnerets " of the spider or caterpillar is apparently 

 an act of the simplest possible character, viewed in regard to 

 the apparatus and actions which engage in its manufacture ; 

 but placed in relation to human contrivance, we may well 

 fail to conceive the delicacy of the spinning-jenny or more 

 modern machine which could evolve a product of like nature. 

 The instinct of the animal, blind and automaton-like as it 

 may be, certainly holds its own in respect of the perfection 



