106 THE UNIVERSE. 



flies, have at the extremities of their limbs a kind of small 

 notched lamellse, which allow them to adhere to glass and 

 the most polished bodies. 



How rough and coarse the works of man appear by the 

 side of those of nature ! Compare the instruments which 

 the insect uses for its work with those which we employ. 

 Behold its saws, its rakes, its brushes, its chisels ; compare 

 them with ours, and you will at once admit that the tools 

 fabricated by man are all immeasurably inferior to what 

 the insect possesses. The scalpel of the anatomist seems to 

 have an edge of delicate workmanship ; its polish attracts 

 us : examine it with the microscope, and you are surprised 



51. Hind Feet, used as Ciliary Oars, in the male and female Dytiscus, and the Prehensile 



Foot of the male. 



to see it transformed into a coarse saw-blade. It is the 

 same with the point of a needle ; it becomes an imperfect 

 awl. Scrutinize the scythes, the darts, or the rakes of an 

 insect, and everything there reveals the power of the Ar- 

 chitect of so many marvels. The claw of the lion is im- 

 mensely less complicated than that of the spider ! 



In the creatures which we are now studying the tactile 



