/O LIVING CREATURES. 



neously born from decaying substance. He proved 

 that every living thing comes from a living parent of 

 the same kind. He found the compound eyes of some 

 insects ; the beautiful scales on the wings of butterflies : 

 the spinners and poison claws of the spider. 



In the gutters of the house roof, there is nearly 

 always collected more or less moss or dirt mixed with 

 leaves. Of course, during the absence of rain, this 

 litter becomes very dry. Now if a pinch of this dust 

 be moistened in water, and placed under a microscope, 

 pretty soon little animals, no larger than the head of 

 a pin, appear swimming and dancing about, as antic 

 as pollywogs. They are called rotifers or wheel-bear- 

 ers, because they have, at the place where the mouth 

 should be expected, a wheel fringed with lively hairs 

 with which they draw in their invisible prey. Entirely 

 dry, like grains of sand, they may exist for a long 

 time, and wake into activity when wet. 



These wheel-bearers were first brought to light by 

 Anthony van Leeuwenhoek. Many other things, also, 

 did he discover with his microscope, and many things 

 about such things as had already been discovered. 



1 6. SPIDERS. 



ONE is struck with a certain resemblance between 

 crab and spider. The latter has eight walking legs, of 

 which the first pair from the head are used for feelers. 

 They are jointed like the legs of crab and lobster, and 



