12 THE STORY OF ANIMAL LIFE 



odile is so very large an animal it would make 

 'altogether too terrible an insect.'" 



How different is the state of knowledge now, 

 when every part of a crocodile or a cockroach is 

 described in print in the minutest "detail, and set 

 before even the beginner in zoology as a neces- 

 sary lesson. 



But in spite of the labour necessary to master 

 such detailed lessons, the study of the animal 

 world is far from prosaic. The Story of Animal 

 Life, indeed, bids fair to be the only element of 

 romance left in the modern world for those who 

 stay at home in their own land. The traveller of 

 days of yore, when he ventured into the woods 

 and fields, or upon the water, expected to meet 

 with all sorts of strange things fairies and elves 

 and ugly gnomes ; giants, ogres, and dragons ; 

 mermaids and water-witches. With the spread 

 of education all these things have vanished now; 

 it is quite certain that no Board-School-boy has 

 ever met any of them : and one's walks abroad 

 would be in these days as prosaic as they are safe, 

 but for the world of animal life. If you have 

 eyes for this, every field has its inhabitants, and 

 every hedge its marvels. Instead of a fairy, you 

 may be well contented to meet a dragon-fly with 

 shining wings; instead of an ogre you will find 

 the fierce spider, which not only makes away with 

 every harmless fly that blunders into her net, but 

 in many cases destroys her own kind also. Many 

 a plant may be met with which has its own special 

 caterpillar or other dependent insect, with ways 

 of its own, which may amuse your idle hours. As 

 for the change of a caterpillar or a tadpole into 

 its adult form, it would be taken for a miracle if 

 it were observed for the first time. 



