112 



THE UNIVERSE. 



M. Cagniard-Latour affirms that a gnat vibrates its 

 wings 500 times in a second. 



Mr. Nicholson goes still further; he asserts that the 

 vibrations of the wing of the common fly are as many as 600 

 in a second, since it passes through space at the rate of 

 six feet in this time. But this observer adds, that for rapid 

 flight we must multiply this number by six, which means 



.57. Si^hinx Galii plundering FLnvers. 



that in a second, or the time we require to execute a single 

 movement of one of our members, the fly with its wing 

 can perform 3600. The mind is stupified at such calcu- 

 lations, and yet they are of unimpeachable accuracy ! 



After this we are no longer astonished at the activity 

 shown by some butterflies, such as the sphinx, when they 

 rifle the flowers of our gardens. They flit from one to the 

 other with the speed of an arrow, and, like the straight- 



