198 HIGH WATER MARK. 



clination. These thickened ridges carry a number of 

 fine stiff -bristles, which, in the quiescent condition of 

 the coiled wire, lay close in its interior ; but as soon 

 as the progress of the evolution frees them, fly out, 

 and presently assume a retrograde direction as so 

 many reverted barbs. 



The force with which this remarkable wire is shot 

 is sufficient, combined with its almost inconceivable 

 tenuity, to enable it to pierce the skin and tissues of 

 the animals with which it comes in contact. A bit 

 of fish-skin, examined microscopically after an in- 

 stant's touch by one of these threads, is seen to bristle 

 with barbed wires, like a target after a day's archery. 



Moreover, in some way or another, a most subtle 

 poison accompanies the evolution of the wire, and is 

 injected into every wound made by its intromission. 

 No animal of small size, however vigorous its life, 

 however exalted its rank in the scale of being, can 

 withstand its power. It is most fatally destructive. 

 A few seconds in general, a few minutes at most, 

 suffice for the withering up of its activities ; torpor 

 quickly sets in, and quickly death. " Nemo me im- 

 pune lacessit" is the device of the ancient house of 



Did I not truly say that we have here a most ela- 

 borate piece of mechanism? And surely its won- 

 drousness is greatly enhanced by its minuteness ! If 

 we admire the skill of the penman who writes the De- 

 calogue in the area of a threepenny bit, and the Iliad 

 in a nutshell, though with no ulterior end, what shall 



