218 STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 



which in wet weather a not unusual atmospheric 

 condition in Northern Britain writhe and wriggle 

 and creep and crawl until they attain the stem 

 and the leaves and the flowers of the heather. 

 Here these larvae wait patiently until a grouse 

 consumes them with the heather tips, and then, 

 once inside the alimentary canal, they become 

 adult, make their way to the caeca, and in four 

 days ripe eggs are again infesting the moors. 



It is recorded that Prince Bismarck once 

 said to Lady Randolph Churchill, " Have you 

 ever sat on the grass and examined it closely? 

 There is enough life in one square yard to appal 

 you." 



It has always seemed to me a strange thing 

 for the Prince to have said. To begin with, 

 throughout his long life he had shown but an 

 imperfect sympathy with the lower Invertebrata, 

 and then, again, he was a man not easily appalled : 

 but the saying is perfectly true. It is difficult 

 for the layman to grasp what is going on in and 

 on the soil and on the plants which it supports. 

 Suppose we could by means of a gigantic lens 

 magnify a square yard of a grouse moor one 

 hundred times. The heather plants would be 

 as tall as lofty elms, their flowers as big as cab- 



