THE SHOEES OF BEITAIX. 



Defoke we launch forth to investigate the wonders 

 of the vast Ocean, a little time will not be misspent 

 in observing a few of the curious productions which 

 it brings to our very doors. We shall greatly err, if 

 we suppose that only in distant parts of the world 

 the works of God can be so studied as to illustrate 

 His infinite power, and skill, and benevolence : we 

 may have to search distant regions to find the giants 

 of tlie deep, the huge whale, the Indian cuttle, or the 

 island madrepore ; but in the most minute crustacean 

 that hops above the retiring wave, or the most fragile 

 shell that lies upon the shingle, there is the indelible 

 impress of the mind and hand of God. Indeed, it 

 may be asserted, that of two created objects of dif- 

 ferent magnitude, but possessing similar organs, 

 equally adapted to their requirements, that one in 

 which these organs are of minute size is the more 

 calculated to excite our admiration. Our own shores 

 swarm with little creatures of many kinds, some so 

 small as to escape the eye of any one but a naturalist, 

 which yet are well worthy of being examined and 

 studied. Take one example. Walking along a sea- 

 beach, where the loose shingle rattles under the 

 retiring waves, we may find a minute beetle, known 

 to entomologists by the name of Aepus fulvcscens, 



