III. THE BEICK-MAKEE. 



" Though lowly here our lot may be, 

 High work have we to do." GASKILL. 



" There is no great and no small 

 To the soul that maketh all." EMERSON. 



THE Melicerta ringens is an animal so small that, 

 although it lives in a brick-built house or castle of 

 great beauty and strength, one might swallow a 

 score of them in a mouthful of water, houses and 

 animals altogether, without noticing them; and 

 therefore to ascribe intelligence to an animal so 

 small seems at first sight rather preposterous. 

 Small and great, however, are only relative terms ; 

 and in the region of microscopic life, this creature 

 is rather a large one as compared with thousands 

 of others as large, indeed, as an elephant is to a 

 mouse in the visible creation. Thus regarded, the 

 objection as to size vanishes. 



The vignette represents a group of these very 



