36 THE OCEAN. 
minute beetle, known to entomologists by the name 
of Aepus fulvescens, whose habits may well excite 
our astonishment. Formed like all other beetles, 
to breathe air alone, it deserts the haunts of its fel- 
lows, and betakes itself to the sea, choosing to dwell 
among the pebbles so low down on the beach that 
the water covers it constantly, except for a day or 
two twice every month, when, at the lowest ebb of 
the spring-tide, it is for a few minutes exposed. 
Now, during the weeks of its submersion, how does 
this little creature breathe? Oxygen it must have, 
or it will assuredly die. Many of the beetles that 
shoot hither and thither in our fresh-water ponds 
are clothed with a coat of thick but very fine down, 
in which air is entangled and carried beneath the 
surface. But our little Aepus is not furnished with 
a coating of down. If we examine it, however, 
with a magnifier, we shall discover that its whole 
body and limbs are studded with long, slender 
hairs, and when it plunges under water, each of 
these hairs carries with it a little globule of air 
from the atmosphere, and these, uniting, form a 
bubble of air surrounding the body of the insect, 
and serving it for respiration. But, subjected to 
the rolling of the tide, it would be liable to be 
perpetually washed away from its dwelling-place, 
were there not an especial provision graciously made 
for its stability. For this end the feet are fur- 
nished with claws of unusual size, to cling firmly 
to the projections of the stones, and in addition 
to these the last joint but one of the feet has a 
long curved spine meeting the claws, giving it an 
