252 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Opp 



from what we see of him in his present condition ; for it may 

 well be that under a new state of circumstances, in another 

 world, he may be able to exhibit powers and virtues which 

 fail to nourish here, but which amidst congenial influences will 

 become grand and glorious. v. 



The Opportunists. 



"Not only some men, but also some of the lower creatures, are 

 endowed by Nature with a wonderful faculty for triumphing 

 over unpropitious circumstances and seizing favourable oppor- 

 tunities. For example, the gordiacea, or hair-worms, live as 

 parasites in the bodies of various species of insects. When 

 mature, they quit the bodies of the insects at whose expense 

 they have been nourished, and seek some piece of water or 

 moist situation, where they deposit their ova in long chains. 

 If by any chance, on breaking out of their insect home, they 

 find that dry weather has produced a state of things incompa- 

 tible with their notion of comfort, they quietly allow themselves 

 to be dried up, when they become perfectly hard and brittle ; 

 but, strange to say, the moment a shower of rain comes to 

 refresh the earth with its moisture, the dormant hair-worms imme- 

 diately recover their activity, avail of the new opportunity, and 

 start off in search of a suitable place in which the great object 

 of their visit to solid earth may be effected. N. D. 



The Selection of Opportunity. 



When it is wished to introduce into a hive of bees a stranger 

 queen bee, after having removed the original queen bee, every 

 precaution must be used before putting her into the common 

 home. It is only after some time that the bees become aware 

 of the disappearance of their queen; but they then manifest 

 great emotion. They run hither and thither as though mad, 

 leaving off their work, and making a peculiar buzzing sound. 

 If you return to them their original sovereign, they recognise 

 her, and calm is immediately restored ; but the substitution of 

 a new queen for the original sovereign does not produce the 

 same effect in every case. If you introduce the new queen half 



