TWO YOUNG NATURALISTS. 



the doctor. "This fracture will enable us to learn how 

 sea-urchins are able to grow." 



The two young men drew near with an air of 

 curiosity. 



" All these plates," said the old doctor, " are main- 

 tained, as you may see, by a very thin pellicle ; this 

 skin constantly secretes a calcareous substance round 

 the plates, which on this account all increase in size 

 together. It is by a similar, though much more 

 complicated process, that the growth of animals and 

 man is carried on. A small quantity is unceasingly 

 being added to the existing material, and the young 

 animal, or the young man, as the case may be, 

 grows from one year to another without being aware 

 of it." 



" In my own case, I may frankly admit," said Bene*, 

 " I have hitherto grown somewhat after the same 

 fashion as that in which M. Jourdain wrote prose 

 without knowing how." 



Le"on, for some moments, had been meditating. 



" What are you thinking of ? " asked his cousin. 



" Nothing of importance ; a strange coincidence : 

 we have seen in our short excursion the principal 

 types of the animal kingdom." 



"How, then?" 



" You shall hear : the fishes, ourselves, and the 

 sand-eel are representatives of the branch Verte- 

 brata." 



