i 4 ANIMAL LIFE 



stones, in the mud under water, animals and their eggs 

 abound. 



When brought into a warm room a bag of leaves 

 and moss, searched on a white surface, breaks out into 

 unexpected life — a solitary bumble-bee stirs, a newt 

 stretches its body, beetles uncurl their limbs and creep 

 about, caterpillars wake, spiders lie entranced, ants that 

 lay sleeping wake in agitation. 



Clods broken up under warm water show as clear 

 evidence of the hidden life within them. Dried 

 mud from distant countries will then develop the 

 eggs of shrimps, weeds, and Infusoria from those 

 lands. In this manner cultures of many kinds may 

 be made. 



Boundless as is the profusion of animal life, we 

 know that in the near and remote past its abundance 

 was no less. If the Pyramids of Egypt are monu- 

 ments of human endurance and skill, the animalcules 

 that compose those buildings have left therein a 

 record not less impressive than the tale of slaves worn 

 out in hodman's service. 



In the fells of northern England, in the cliffs and 

 downs of the south, the very rock represents the 

 labour of innumerable hosts of animals that have 

 secreted salts from the ocean and deposited them 

 as coral and shell, sea-lily and sea-mat. Limestone 

 and chalk, with all the buildings and walls made 

 from them, are due — and exclusively due — to living 

 organisms, though trace of their presence may have 



