SECRETION 



INSECTS* 



l)r. B. You have either been misinformed, or have 

 ^misunderstood your informants. The coral is the pro- 

 duce of animals of the Zoophyte class, and is raised ior 

 the purpose of serving as an abode for myriads of these 

 minute creatures who extend their feelers through the 

 apertures which you may observe on the surface. So 

 numerous are these beings and so rapidly do they carry 

 on the construction of their habitations, that whole moun- 

 tains of coral are sometimes formed under the sea, en- 

 circling islands and coasts, and filling the path of the 

 navigator with unknown perils. Some of the islands in 

 the Pacific ocean are formed entirely in this way. 



Emily. Well> this is the most astonishing of all; 

 whole islands tiie produce of secretion ! and that too, of 

 creatures which are hardly perceptible to the naked eye ! 

 I thought you had already mentioned some most won- 

 derful facts, but really this surpasses them all. 



Dr. B. Perhaps you would be equally surprised if 

 [ should tell you that the very garment which you wear, 

 is the product of secretion ; and yet such is the case. 



Emily. Do explain yourself, Dr. B., unless you are 

 really jesting I do not understand it. This silk frock of 

 mine, I had always imagined, was woven in looms in 

 foreign countries ; can it be this you refer to ? 



Dr. 5. Right ; but the silk itself once constituted 

 the cocoon or habitation of an insect, which it made for 

 itself to pass away the period in, which intervenes during 

 its change from the larva to the perfect state. It is spun 

 by the silk-worm, from materials that are abundantly 

 furnished by certain secretory organs, expressly destined 

 for this purpose, and afterwards is woven by manufactu- 

 rers into a stuff which has become indispensable in all 

 civilized countries. This must finish the subject of se- 

 cretion, and if you are not wearied we will proceed to 

 examine another of the functions of life. 



Emily. Have no concern on that score. But pray, 

 what may be the next subject that will require our at- 

 tention ? 



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