164 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Ine 



and magnitude of the materials which they collect for their 

 heaps ; but the common little red ant (formica rubea), a much 

 smaller creature, gives daily proofs of its abilities to remove 

 heavy substances equal to any that we meet with. One of these 

 little creatures, thirty-six of which only weigh a single grain, 

 has been seen to bear away the great black fly as its prize, 

 equal to a grain in weight, with considerable ease ; and even 

 the wasp, which exceeds forty times its own weight, will be 

 dragged away by the labour and perseverance of an individual 

 emmet. Learn from these facts not to estimate the strength of 

 things by mere reference to their material magnitude. One 

 very little man like Pope may possess poetic power to shape a 

 nation's literature. One hero, not six feet high, may create a 

 kingdom or overturn it. j. 



The Triumph of Industry over Adversity. 



Nothing is more absurd than to throw up the hands in wild 

 despair, or to sit down in sullen despondency, when calamity 

 overtakes us. The remedy for the evil is work hard, earnest 

 work. Let us " go to the ant ; consider her ways, and be wise." 

 "When," says Mr. Frederick Smith, "the habitations of the 

 ants are by any means injured or destroyed, no time is lost in 

 useless despair ; one spirit animates each individual ; simul- 

 taneously they set to work to repair their misfortune ; unceas- 

 ingly they labour; nothing damps their ardour or abates their 

 industry, until, as if by a magic wand, their habitation again 

 rises to its former height and beauty, and all trace of ruin has 

 disappeared. MU. 



Inexplicable Beauty. 



The crimson topaz (Topaza pelld) is a bird of magnificent 

 beauty, but curiously enough, although it is bedecked with re- 

 splendent hues, which seem to need the presence of daylight, and 

 to be made expressly for the purpose of reflecting the brightest 

 beams of the sun, yet the lovely bird is one of the night wan- 

 derers, being seldom seen as long as the sun is above the horizon, 

 and preferring to seek its food while the world is shrouded in 

 darkness. The sea-mouse, too, whose iridescent garment possesses 



