THIRD WEEK] December 323 



man, but even before his time, floating trees at sea must 

 have been plentiful enough to supply homes for the whole 

 tribe of these creatures, unless they made their burrows in 

 coral or shells. 



The insects whose very existence, in some cases, depends 

 upon trees, are innumerable. What, for example, would 

 become of the larvae of the cicada, or locust, which, in 

 the cold and darkness of their subterranean life, for seven- 

 teen years suck the juicy roots of trees; or the caterpillars 

 of the moths, spinning high their webs among the leaves; 

 or the countless beetles whose grubs bore through and 

 through the trunk their sinuous, sawdusty tunnels; or the 

 ichneumon fly, which with an instrument surgical needle, 

 file, augur, and scroll saw all in one deposits, deep below 

 the bark, its eggs in safety? If forced to compete with 

 terrestrial species, the tree spiders and scorpions would 

 quickly become exterminated; while especially adapted 

 arboreal ants would instantly disappear. 



We cannot entirely exclude even fishes from our list; 

 as the absence of mangroves would incidentally affect the 

 climbing perch and catfishes! The newts and common 

 toads would be in no wise dismayed by the passing of 

 the trees, but not so certain tadpoles. Those of our ditches, 

 it is true, would live and flourish, but there are, in the 

 world, many curious kinds which hatch and grow up into 

 frogs in curled-up leaves or in damp places in the forks 

 of branches, and which would find themselves homeless 

 without trees. Think, too, of the poor green and brown 

 tree frogs with their sucker feet, compelled always to hop 

 along the ground! 



