6n the study of nature:. 1§ 



hot crack : it has a reservoir for water, which enables 

 it to resist for many days the attacks of thirst, in a 

 country where water is seldom to be had ; and it is 

 contented with brouzing on such miserable food as 

 is to be met with in its progress. — We might go on 

 through innumerable instances, but these are reserv- 

 ed, with greater propriety, for tlie body of the work. 

 In vegetables again, we observe similar marks of 

 superintendance. Some are Alpine, and can exist 

 only on the high summits of the mountains ; some 

 grow in marshes, others on the sandy plains, &c. 

 and each of these is exactly adapted to its peculiar 

 situation. The plants of the desert are nearly all 

 succulent, and able to bear the privation of moisLure 

 for an astonishing length of time. Those that are 

 found on the seashore could not, in many instances 

 be retained in their situation, did not their roots be- 

 come so matted among the sand, or strike so deeply 

 down as to render them perfectly immoveable bv all 

 the shocks they sustain either from the wind or wa- 

 ter. It is also a remarkable circumstance, that 

 Evergreens grow principally in the hottest climates, 

 where they are chiefly found in th^ barren woods, 

 thus affording a natural shelter to the various animals 

 from the excessive heats to which they would other- 

 wise be exposed. 



, If we attend to the contrivances of Nature in the 

 preservation of those animals that would otherwise, 

 in the colder climates, be deprived of food during 

 the Winter, we have an additional source of admira- 

 tion. Most of the insect-eating tribes either migrate 

 to other countries_, or become torpid during this ri- 



