KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



373 



The Goodness of God, shown in the Structure 

 and Adaptation of the Eyes of Insects. — How 

 wonderfully constructed is the beautiful organ of 

 insect vision ! How admirably adapted to the 

 necessities of insects ! The gaudy dragon-fly, 

 presenting, as he does, such a conspicuous tempt- 

 ing show of colors to the active swallow, eludes 

 the feathered enemy by superior agility of flight. 

 Mere agility, however, would avail nothing with- 

 out the aid of powerful eyes. Accordingly, na- 

 ture has given him somewhat more than twelve 

 thousand, bright and piercing ; some looking up- 

 wards, some downwards, some backwards, and 

 some on either side. In the ants, there are fifty 

 of these faces or eyes ; in the horse-fly, four thou- 

 sand ; in butterflies, upwards of seventeen 

 thousand three hundred and fifty-five have been 

 counted — nay,in some coleopterous or scaly winged 

 insects, there have been numbered no fewer than 

 twenty-eight thousand and eighty -eight. — Rose. 



[Your remarks and observations of nature, 

 Rose, do you honor. Nature's goodness knows no 

 bounds. Foreseeing the danger to which man- 

 kind are constantly exposed, she has bountifully 

 given us, her children, two eyes, two legs, two feet, 

 two ears, and two hands, — so that, if either should 

 sustain injury, there would still be another left to 

 perform the extra duty. Some weeks since 

 we had a heavy fall in the street, and sustained 

 severe damage in our arm, elbow, hand, and fin- 

 gers ; so sadly were our sinews strained, that we 

 were for a length of time compelled to suspend the 

 wounded limb in a support, attached to the neck. 

 Fortunately, our left arm was the sufferer. The 

 right_hand has, ever since, been doomed to cease- 

 less toil. In perfect agony, it has travelled over 

 reams of paper, and answered letters innumer- 

 able. But it has done its duty ; and we are 

 thankful. During the extremity of our suffering, 

 we could not help pondering much on that beauti- 

 ful saying, — "If one member suffers, all the 

 other members suffer with it." There assuredly 

 is a remarkable sympathy in the different mem- 

 bers of the body ; and it is wisely ordained that it 

 should be so.] 



The Sea-Anemone. — I was very much pleased 

 with that pretty article about the Dormouse, so 

 kindly copied for you by your interesting corre- 

 spondent " Heartsease " {ante, p. 315). From the 

 same source, I have busied myself in making a 

 few extracts about the " Sea-Anemone," which 

 will come in as a sequel to the particulars of that 

 little creature, furnished at Page 186 of our Jour- 

 nal. It is a " labor of love " to work for Our 

 Editor, and therefore I offer no apology — feeling 

 sure of a welcome : — "Everybody has not seen a 

 sea-anemone, although they are multitudinous on 

 many parts of our coast. If you take a stroll at 

 ebb-tide, below high water mark, along a rocky 

 shore, you will find the boulders plentifully sprin- 

 kled with seeming specks of clotted blood. Touch 

 them, and they shrink into a thin leathery patch. 

 In the little pools which have been left by the 

 retiring waves, you will observe apparent flowers 

 of various sizes, from a sixpence to a five-shilling 

 piece ; and mostly of a dull deep crimson tint. You 

 might fancy them a knot of self-sown, submarine 

 German asters. Try to gather one, and it withers 

 into nothing ; perhaps squirting a few drops of 



water in your face. It is a living creature and not 

 a flower, and has transformed itself into a cold 

 clot of gore as the best means of escaping from 

 your grasp. You will have a better chance of 

 capturing those which the tide has left entirely 

 dry. Here is one, plump and of a good color. It 

 has nothing to attach it to the limestone boulder, 

 save the pressure of the atmosphere acting on its 

 sucker-like base ; but we may rend it to pieces 

 before we can get it off. And there are none to 

 be found (or very rarely) on pebbles of a portable 

 size ; as if the creatures knew which was the 

 safest anchorage. We will have it, however, to 

 add to our menagerie. It is on the side of the 

 block, which is more convenient to us than the top. 

 With this lump of stone, I rap, tap, tap, just above 

 it, taking care not to touch its very crushable 

 person. See ; it dislikes the jar, and is beginning 

 to give way. It drops, and I catch it in this 

 oyster-shell, which contains a tempting little pool 

 of salt-water. It settles; we may now put our 

 piisoner in our game-bag, and march off with it 

 home. Tame sea-anemones display great wilful- 

 ness, and, if not properly managed, a sulky tem- 

 per. The grand object is to have them show to 

 advantage, and make the best possible display 

 with their petals, or arms. To effect this, you 

 must keep them very hungry ; short commons are 

 sure to call forth their attractive endowments. 

 Like poets, and painters, and dancers, and singers 

 — omitting all mention of periodical prose-writers 

 — they exercise their talents for what they can 

 get, as well as because it is their born vocation to 

 please. Every petal is a movable member, whose 

 office is to provide for the central mouth. Drop a 

 pin's-head morsel of fish-meat just over the ane- 

 mone, so as to fall, while sinking, between the 

 arms ; and it is clutched by the one that is nearest 

 to it, and packed at once into the digestive reposi- 

 tory. But feast your flower, and he doubles him- 

 self up close — to open no more until he is again 

 half famished. Our sea-anemone travelled about 

 the glass, by sliding along, sometimes at quite a 

 perceptible rate, on his sucker. Now and then 

 his spirits drooped while changing his skin, which 

 came off occasionally in a filmy cuticle. On one 

 occasion only did he try to escape ; and that was 

 when the water had become turbid, by shrimp- 

 flesh put in to feed his abominations, the crabs. 

 He climbed up the glass until he was almost 

 high and dry. It was as much as to ask us 

 to renew his bath. But the weather was 

 stormy, and we could not go to the beach for 

 his usual supply. Next morning he lay at the 

 bottom of the tumbler, all flabby and unattached. 

 We thought he was dead, but it was only a 

 piece of pouting. In an hour or two he was as 

 cheerful as ever. To reward his good conduct, 

 we descended the cliff, and tapped the raging 

 ocean at the risk of a good ducking. The sea- 

 anemone was perfectly amiable in comparison 

 with the tenants of an opposite tank. Spring 

 water was the element which filled a soup- 

 tureen that had ever been innocent of English 

 mock-turtle. Instead of the nutritious and deli- 

 cious and pernicious stuff, which, when cold, 

 you may chop with a hatchet, this vase of ab- 

 stinence had never got beyond sorrel and cab- 

 bage, with a Sunday bouillon in which were 

 swimming mighty islands of well-soaked crust. 



