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ask about these things. To what end is all this wealth of colour and 

 sculpture? ^Ve can understand the beautiful markings and colours 

 in the plumage of some birds when it is displayed before the ad- 

 miring female ; we can in some measure account for the superior 

 beauty in the male Lepidoptera and Coleoptera ; but this beauty in 

 the lowly Pecten living 200 feet below the surface of the water — who 

 can explain its uses ? Who can give us a reason for the prodigality 

 of beauty, which is revealed to us by the microscope, in the lowest 

 forms of life ? One becomes lost in speculation, and it is, I suppose, 

 only by patient and persevering observation and study that we can 

 hope to unravel any of Nature's mysteries which are waiting to be 

 solved. 



