1798 The Zoologist— August, 1869. 



Now it may be humbling, but it cannot be disputed, it cannot even 

 be doubted, that these various and infinitely different beings — the 

 ladybird, the ant, and the sawfly ; the dragonfly and the froghopper ; 

 the pigeon and the waxwing ; the sand grouse, the lemming, and the 

 rat ; Moses aud Johshua, Atlila and Odoacer, the enterprising Co- 

 lumbus and the peaceful Penn — have been mere helpless instruments 

 in carrying out natural laws. It may seem too ridiculous to sug- 

 gest such an association as this, but the similitude may be carried a 

 great deal farther : the greatest discoverers, the greatest warriors, the 

 greatest lawgivers, the greatest philosophers, are equally subject to the 

 laws of birth, life and death, with the lady-bird, the plant-louse, or 

 the lemming: there is an appointed groove in which all travel. 



Strange as it may appear, this very restlessness may prove 



the salvation of species ; this incomprehensible impulse, this blind 



obedience to seemingly destructive law, may become preservative. 



The Teuton, whose home is desolate or so obscure that we canuot find 



it, has found new worlds in which to reside and raulliply. Great 



Britain, America, India, Australia and South Africa have become 



Teutonic : that which to our most imperfect vision appears a reckless 



rushing on destruction, has served to preserve a race while it 



destroys the units. The ants which form a bridge of their dead and 



drowning ones, that enables the living to cross waters they could 



not ford, act ou a principle of sagacity, — aye, of Infinite Wisdom, 



— of which they could never have the most remote idea: the wisdom 



is not theirs. 



Edwaku Newman. 



(To 1 e continued.) 



Curious Dentition in a Rabbit. — Having in my possession two rabliits of curious 

 dentition, and supposing them of sufficient interest for insertion in the 'Zoologist,' I 

 send ibem to you, accompanied witb a photograph and outline drawings. No. I is a 

 young rabbit shot in November in the nei;;bbourhuod nf Toniuay, and lias three upper 

 and the two lower incisors extraordinarily bent, and of the following uncommon 

 lengths: the longest upper tooth is f of an inch in length and has a groove 

 running along the centre from root to tip ; the two lower teeth are of equal length 

 — above T^ of an inch long; the lower jaw is contorted. The breadth of its lower 

 teeth is equal, being ^ of an inch at the base and tapering towards the point to 

 half that breadth. No. 2, an adult rabbit, shot likewise near Torquay, was procured 

 by me in the flesh (it seemed to have been shot at least four days before) on the 24lh 

 of December. Its two lower incisors are of regular formation, cur>e abruptly upwards. 



