ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 37 



blood in animal bodies breed small vermin, 

 which found their natural aliment in the 

 bodies of their victims, but never so large 

 as eels. The poor milch cow has to carry 

 the small vermin on her belly (her only 

 comb for cleaning them out being her 

 barbed tongue), and the large " warbie/' as 

 the farmers call it, on her back. This 

 1 consider a parasite. But I will be more 

 explicit if ever for amusement I write upon 

 parasites. 



I have now described the nature and 

 habits of the eel-beetle. I have also shewn 

 that the eel can in no way be considered a 

 parasite. The only thing that remains for 

 me is clearly to shew the derivation of the 

 eel from its insect-parent by natural laws. 



I put the eel-beetle in my third class, 

 among the animals that breed on land and 

 change to live in water. I believe the eel- 

 beetle has two natures ; and that these two 

 natures spring from the same original at 

 the same time, and coupled together as the 

 nature of the beetle-form and the nature of 

 the eel-form within it, and the first, or beetle- 

 form, could not subsist without the second 



