PREFATORY REMARKS. 5 



couched in the alimentary canal, and the 

 secreted juices passing through these canals 

 for the support of the beetle, gives it a tinge 

 that by nature makes it strive, if possible, 

 to live near water in order to be ready 

 to give up its second nature to its proper 

 element when the time arrives. This may 

 seem strange; the strangeness, however, 

 disappears when we look round among the 

 members of the vegetable kingdom. There, 

 through a caprice of gardening, one tree 

 may be made the possessor of two diverse 

 natures. The ash, for example, may be 

 grafted on the elm. In the spring, the elm 

 would be sowing its seed, while the ash 

 would be breaking the bud to grow. Could 

 not, therefore, the Great Creating Gardener 

 graft a foreign nature on that of an insect ? 

 Whilst one nature was sending forth its 

 offspring, the germs of the other would be 

 lying dormant till its period of development 



