24 THE OCEAN. 



whose habits may well excite our astonishment. 

 I'ormed, like all other beetles, to breathe air alone, it 

 deserts the haunts of its fellows, 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 sub- 

 mersion, how does this little creature breathe ? Oxy- 

 gen 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 

 very line down, in which air is entangled and carried 

 beneath the surface. But our little Aepus is not 

 furnished wdth a coating of down. If we examine 

 it, however, with a magnifier, we shall discover that 

 its whole bod}^ 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 furnished 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 extraordinary power in grasping, as well 

 as aiding it in obtaining its prey. In other respects, 

 with regard to its eyes, its autennoe, its jaws, we 



