n ON ANIMAL LIFE 49 



draws out the grub, which they then divide 

 between them : a very pretty illustration of 

 the wife as helpmate to the husband. 



It was indeed until lately the general 

 opinion that animals and plants came into 

 existence just as we now see them. We took 

 pleasure in their beauty ; their adaptation to 

 their habits and mode of life in many cases 

 could not be overlooked or misunderstood. 

 Nevertheless the book of Nature was like 

 some missal richly illuminated, but written in 

 an unknown tongue. The graceful forms of 

 the letters, the beauty of the colouring, excited 

 our wonder and admiration ; but of the true 

 meaning little was known to us ; indeed we 

 scarcely realised that there was any meaning 

 to decipher. Now glimpses of the truth are 

 gradually revealing themselves, we perceive 

 that there is a reason, and in many cases we 

 know what the reason is, for every difference 

 in form, in size, and in colour ; for every bone 

 and every feather, almost for every hair.^ 



1 Lubbock, Fifty Years of Science. 



