68 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Dan 



Curiosity Seized as a Snare. 



In the Makololo territories Dr. Livingstone met with numbers 

 of dragon-fly-looking insect?, the larvae of which prey upon 

 ants. These they capture in a peculiar manner. The larva 

 puts its head into a little hole in the ground and quivers its 

 tail rapidly. The ants come near to examine the novel object, 

 and urged on by curiosity, advance somewhat too closely, when 

 they are suddenly seized by the forcers or graspers with which 

 the vibratory tail is furnished, and thus are killed. Not only 

 do insects and the lower animals understand that the curiosity 

 of their victims may be effectively employed as a snare for 

 them, but human beings understand and act upon the same 

 principle. How many a young man has been utterly ruined 

 by a vicious thing through adopting the apparently harmless 

 course of " going to see what it was like " ! The proprietors of 

 the gaming-tables and the many other depraved resorts of 

 vice, have all caught their victims by ensnaring their curiosity. 

 Curiosity is a good servant but bad master. We should hold 

 its bridle with a firm hand, or it may gallop with us to the 

 point where ruin is ready to clutch us. I. 



The Philosophic Way of Meeting Danger. 



The hedgehog upon the approach of any danger rolls itself up 

 in a lump, and patiently waits till its enemy passes by, or is 

 fatigued with fruitless attempts to annoy it. Every increase of 

 danger only increases the animal's precautions to keep on its 

 guard. The dog vainly attempts to bite it, since he thus more 

 frequently feels than inflicts a wound ; he stands enraged and 

 barking, and rolls it along with his paws; still, however, the 

 hedgehog patiently submits to every indignity, but continues 

 secure. In this manner the dog, after barking for some time, 

 leaves the hedgehog where he found him, who perceiving the 

 danger past, at length peeps out from its ball, and, if not 

 interrupted, creeps slowly to its retreat. Thus, by being patient, 

 wary, and unresentful, the hedgehog escapes all injury. An 

 ill-natured cur imder similar circumstances would at least have 

 been bitten and worried by the attacking dog. The very fussi- 



