262 THE WOODLANDS. 



bearing them upon their bodies. Dead leaves and decay- 

 ing fungi swarm with them. The rotting bark of old 

 stumps incloses them, and they may be seen even on the 

 bark of living trees. Wherever there is putrefaction and 

 decay they are sure to be found, and in many other 

 places where there is no evidence of either. Some of 

 them live in large colonies, weaving webs almost in 

 the manner of spiders. Others are aquatic and float 

 in ponds like tadpoles. Some are black as a fragment 

 of jet, others white as snow, others again of the most 

 vivid scarlet, crimson, or green. In their mature con- 

 dition they have four pairs of legs like spiders, and, 

 like them, they moult or change their skins before 

 they arrive at maturity. If there are any animals 

 which can be described as ubiquitous, they are the 

 mites, for it would be exceedingly difficult to name 

 bodies organic or inorganic on which they have never 

 been found. The historian of these minute creatures 

 would require a large volume to record their names 

 and detail their characteristic distinctions. From us 

 they can only receive this general allusion as we pass 

 on to larger and more visible objects. 



When a strip of bark is torn from an old stump, or 

 from a tree trunk which has lain for a long time on 

 the ground, a medley of animated creatures will be 

 seen scampering off in all directions to hide them- 

 selves. Doubtless there will be myriapods, or mille- 

 pedes, for that is just the kind of locality suited to 

 their propensities, and there will be wood-lice, rolling 

 themselves into shining balls like pills, for protection, 

 mites, springtails, small beetles, a spider or two, and 

 probably some cocoons of spiders' eggs. It is more 



