TWO YOUNG NATURALISTS. 265 



that this is not the last of the parasitism : these 

 Chalcidiens may be themselves attacked by other still 

 more minute insects ! Each creature is a means of 

 livelihood to others, and the smallest is a microcosm, 

 quite a universe in miniature. 



Such were the meditations that Dr. Boberral for a 

 while abandoned himself to. All at once he seemed 

 to awake from his dream : " Come," said he, " this is 

 strange sort of speculation for a doctor ! But we 

 must attribute it to the oak-tree itself, the weird 

 tree with which the Greeks and Druids long, long 

 before my time associated their mythical conceptions. 

 My nephew, better advised, contents himself with 

 utilising it as a means for obtaining the objects of his 

 naturalist's desire." 



Just then Franceschini, thinking it time to satisfy 

 the ardour of the young man, invited him to come on 

 a little farther. 



" Come along," said he, with a mysterious smile, 

 " my insect park is only a few steps from here, and 

 without taking so much trouble as this we shall find 

 many more there. Come ! " 



An insect park ! What could he mean by that ? 

 Neither Kene*, Le'on, nor the doctor himself could 

 guess ; but they started oif with fresh enthusiasm, and 

 soon reached a clearing. In the middle of it might 

 still be seen the remains of a wooden hut, erected 

 there by a workman some years before as a temporary 



