14 ZOOLOGY. 



and will even destroy duplicates, that he may enjoy the 

 silly boast of having the only specimen in existence. A 

 naturalist ever wishes for a series, that he may trace the 

 connection between one form and another, and thus see 

 the limit of variation in different species and genera. 

 He works with a constant remembrance of the unity of 

 Nature. The more he discovers traces of affinity be- 

 tween different groups, the more the unity of design 

 manifests itself, and the more his conceptions of a per- 

 sonality in the scheme of Nature are strengthened, and 

 become fixed. From faint and weak beginnings, they 

 gradually expand, and acquire the solidity of truth. 

 Thus, step by step, and as it were "from glory to 

 glory," the mind of the true naturalist is led on to the 

 discovery of laws, and to a just appreciation of the 

 System of Nature. 



Pleasures of this kind do not belong to any one de- 

 partment of Natural History in particular. I have al- 

 luded to them under the head of Botany; but, in truth, 

 Zoology, in its far greater copiousness and variety, 

 offers an immeasurably wider field. The sea teems with 

 animal life. The various classes of marine animals, and 

 the innumerable species comprised in the whole, are full 

 of interest. Few, even of the most careless, can visit the 

 shore without being struck by their beauty. The gather- 

 ing of shells is a favourite amusement ; but few know 

 anything of the curious animals which have dwelt in 

 them. The dead husks of Zoophytes attract us by their 

 gracefulness and by the truth with which they simulate 

 a vegetable form ; but of the animals whose habitations 

 they are, most persons are ignorant of the very exist- 



