42 THE BEAUTIES OP NATURE chap. 



Some species, however, are no doubt more 

 interesting than others, especially perhaps 

 those which live together in true communi- 

 ties, and which offer so many traits — some 

 sad, some comical, and all interesting, — which 

 reproduce more or less closely the circum- 

 stances of our own life. 



The modes of animal life are almost in- 

 finitely diversified ; some live on land, some 

 in water ; of those which are aquatic some 

 dwell in rivers, some in lakes or pools, some 

 on the sea-shore, others in the depths of the 

 ocean. Some burrow in the ground, some 

 find their home in the air. Some live in the 

 Arctic regions, some in the burning deserts ; 

 one little beetle (Hydrobius) in the thermal 

 waters of Hammam-Meskoutin, at a tempera- 

 ture of 130°. As to food, some are carnivor- 

 ous and wage open war ; some, more insidious, 

 attack their victims from within ; others feed 

 on vegetable food, on leaves or wood, on seeds 

 or fruits ; in fact, there is scarcely an animal 

 or vegetable substance which is not the special 

 and favourite food of one or more species. 

 Hence to adapt them to these various require- 



