16 HISTORY 'OF BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 



and had eaten up what, in consequence of putrefaction, 

 would soon, as on a former occasion, have sent forth an 

 offensive odour. 



How little do we think of the constant care of God for 

 the comfort and happiness of his creatures. He gives even 

 the minutest of them their food in due season, and very 

 often, in furnishing a table for them, he is, through their 

 instrumentality, removing what would not only have led 

 to the discomfort, but would have proved injurious to the 

 health of his rational creatures. Were the millions of 

 animals that are constantly dying allowed to lie till they 

 were utterly decomposed, they would pollute the waters and 

 spread infection in the air. There are, however, on land, 

 beetles that are grave-diggers, and worms that drag into 

 their holes in the earth dead animal and vegetable matter. 

 If a naturalist wishes to have a well-cleaned skeleton of 

 bird or fish, he has only to place it in a pond filled with 

 tadpoles; or if he be in Eastern lands, let him expose it 

 for a night to a colony of white ants, and every particle of 

 flesh or fish will be eaten away, and the beautifully-cleaned 

 skeleton alone will remain. How delightfully refreshing is 

 it to walk on the sea-shore, where a person feels as if he 

 were drinking in health to both body and mind ; and yet 



