CHAPTER X. 



PARASITIC ANIMALS. 



THE view already taken of the wide diffusion of 

 animal existence, like a boundless prospect, almost 

 overwhelms us. But here we must not stop, for 

 not only may a single drop of water be a crowded 

 city of habitation, but every blade of grass, every 

 leaf, every flower, has its colony, and even the juices 

 of plants and the fluids of animals are thronged 

 with animalcules. Wherever life can exist, there 

 has the Almighty destined it, under some form, to 

 be. We look on with wondering admiration at 

 myriads of beings, to whom a single drop of water 

 offers " space and verge enough," but these prey on 

 others smaller than themselves, and these again on 

 others still more minute, till they cannot be detected 

 by our most elaborate microscopes, and we are con- 

 strained to exclaim, " Great are the mysteries of 

 creation ! How small a part of thy ways and thy 

 works, eternal Creator, do we know !" 



While, however, we find life diffused wherever 

 organic forms can exist, and all precisely adapted to 

 the place they occupy, the destined abode of some 

 animals is in situations so peculiar, so unexpected, 

 that their presence there naturally excites the 

 greatest surprise, and the more we reflect on the 



