ARCTIC ZOOLOGY. 247 



modified forms, by the author of the "Vestiges of 

 Creation," and by Mr. Charles Darwin. 



There, Messieurs les Critiques, is a chance for 

 you! "Pitch into him; jump down his throat; 

 tear him to pieces ; the Atheist ! the Lamarckian ! 

 the disciple of the atrocious author of the 'Ves- 

 tiges, ,,, etc., etc., etc. 



I acknowledge with humility my presumption in 

 entering upon so profound a question in Natural 

 History ; but, although I make no pretensions to 

 the character of a scientific naturalist, still I have 

 had opportunities such as few have enjoyed, of ob- 

 serving and studying the habits and mode of life 

 of strange animals in many strange countries ; and 

 the more I observe nature, and ponder on the sub- 

 ject, the more do I become convinced that Almighty 

 God always carries out his intentions with regard 

 to the animal creation, not by "direct interposi- 

 tions" of His will, nor by "special fiats of crea- 

 tion," but by the slow and gradual agency of natu- 

 ral causes. 



It might naturally be expected that in such in- 

 clement regions, and where so little vegetation ex- 

 ists as in the Arctic zone, there must only be very 

 few living animals, and those few of a dwarfish and 

 miserable nature ; but, on the contrary no portion 

 of the surface of the globe more abounds in animal 

 life, from the minute animalculae — which, although 

 too small to be seen in detail without a microscope, 

 are yet in the aggregate so numberless as to discolor 



