CH. XXVII. BOOKS ON NATURAL HISTORY. 127 



less errors committed, and the false inferences 

 drawn, by superficial observers, or by persons who 

 set down as facts not merely what they actually 

 see, but what they fancy must, or ought to be ; and 

 who describe as ascertained facts things of which 

 they know nothing more than that they seem to be 

 possible, and may be probable. This is a system 

 of writing which cannot be sufficiently reprobated 

 as tending to establish most erroneous and mis- 

 taken ideas. Every student of nature and of the 

 habits and manners of living creatures, even of 

 those which are apparently the most insignificant 

 and uninteresting, must know that the truest facts 

 concerning them are often much more marvellous 

 than anything he would dare to invent ; and that 

 a writer on such subjects, who wishes to embellish 

 his book with startling and surprising anecdotes, 

 will best attain his object by sticking closely to 

 the plain reality. 



It is an old and oft -repeated saying, that 

 " Truth is stranger than fiction ; " and it is espe- 

 cially so in treating of Nature and her productions, 

 whether we direct our attention to animals of the 

 largest size and highest order of intelligence and 

 instinct, or to the equally astonishing habits and 

 means of living displayed by the smallest insects 

 and reptiles. 



