64 THE MICROSCOPE AND ITS LESSONS. 



is evidence of design, and of the care of the Creator for 

 the supply of the wants of so humble a thing as a fly, 

 rather than the "fortuitous concourse of atoms," which, 

 happening to fall together, as some advocates for evolu- 

 tion would lead us to believe they do, produced such a 

 marvel of workmanship as this ! 



To what different conclusions do both Kirby and 

 Spence and Eennie arrive in their admirable works on 

 entomology ; to these experienced and popular authors 

 I would refer the reader for the most reliable infor- 

 mation in his entomological studies; each and all are 

 allowed to be first-class expositors of insect life. 



In his work on "Insect Transformations," in the 

 chapter on "The Generation of Insects," Kennie writes 

 that "Darwin, taking the hint from Epicurus, fancies 

 that animals arose from a single filament or threadlet 

 of matter, which, by its effort to procure nourishment, 

 lengthened out parts of its body into arms and other 

 members. For example, after this filament had im- 

 proved itself into an oyster, and had been by chance 

 left dry by the ebbing tide, its efforts to reach the 

 water again expanded the parts nearest the sea into 

 arms and legs. If it tried to rise from its native rocks, 

 the efforts produced wings, and it became an insect, 

 which in due course improved itself by fresh efforts 

 till it became a bird, the more perfect members being 

 always hereditarily transmitted to the progeny. The 

 different forms of the bills of birds, whether hooked, 

 broad, or long, were," he says, "gradually acquired by 

 the perpetual endeavours of the creatures to supply their 

 wants. The long-legged water-fowl in this way acquired 

 length of legs sufficient to elevate their bodies above the 

 water in which they waded. A proboscis," he says, "of 

 admirable structure, has thus leen acquired by the l)ee, the 



