224 



EVENINGS AT THE :inCE0SCOPE. 



like filament, and nre graduated in length ; and -what 

 is very striking, as illustrating the exquisite workman- 

 ship of the Divine hand, the 

 hairs themselves are compound 

 structures ; for imder a high 

 power they seem'to be composed 

 of numerous joints — an illusory 

 appeai-ance probably, what look 

 like joints being rather succes- 

 sive shoulders, or projections and 

 constrictions of the outline — 

 while each shoulder carries a 

 whorl of finer spines, lying near- 

 ly close to the main hair, and 

 scarcely deviating from its gen- 

 eral direction. This barbed 

 structure of the hairs is chiefly 

 seen towards their attenuated 

 extremities. 



And now do you ask — AYhat is the object of this 

 elaborate contrivance, or rather series of contrivances ? 

 I answer — It is the net with which the fisher takes liis 

 food — it is his means of living. You have seen that 

 the animal has no power of pursuing prey : he is im- 

 movably fixed to the walls of his castle which is im- 

 movably fixed to the solid rock. lie is compelled 

 therefore to subsist on what passes his castle, and on 

 what he can catch as he sits in his doorway and casts 

 his net at random. 



You saw, also, with what a regular perseverance 

 the casts were made ; and now that you have examined 

 in detail the construction of the net, you are prepared 

 to appreciate its fitness for the work assigned to it. 



nAXD OF BARXACLZ. 



