36 



THE OCEAN. 



minute beetle, known to entomologists by the name 

 of Aepus fulvescens, whose habits may well excite 

 our astonishment. Formed like all other beetles, 

 to breathe air alone, it deserts the haunts of its fel- 

 lows, and betakes itself to the sea, choosing to dwell 

 among the pebbles so low down on the beach that 

 the water covers it constantly, except for a day or 

 two twice every month, when, at the lowest ebb of 

 the spring-tide, it is for a few minutes exposed. 

 Now, during the weeks of its submersion, how does 

 this little creature breathe? Oxygen it must have, 

 or it will assuredly die. Many of the beetles that 

 shoot hither and thither in our fresh-water ponds 

 are clothed with a coat of thick but verj r fine down, 

 in which air is entangled and carried beneath the 

 surface. But our little Aepus is not furnished with 

 a coating of down. If we examine it, however, 

 with a magnifier, we shall discover that its whole 

 body and limbs are studded with long, slender 

 hairs, and when it plunges under water, each of 

 these hairs carries with it a little globule of air 

 from the atmosphere, and these, uniting, form a 

 bubble of air surrounding the body of the insect, 

 and serving it for respiration. But, subjected to 

 the rolling of the tide, it would be liable to be 

 perpetually washed away from its dwelling-place, 

 were there not an especial provision graciously made 

 for its stability. For this end the feet are fur- 

 nished with claws of unusual size, to cling firmly 

 to the projections of the stones, and in addition 

 to these the last joint but one of the feet has a 

 long curved spine meeting the claws, giving it an 



