SINGULAR ANALOGY OF KIRBY. 143 



must therefore have either misunderstood the theory of 

 Huber, or he must have misunderstood himself ; at all events, 

 he has advanced a new doctrine, pretended to be founded on 

 his own experience, which we suspect to be very limited 

 indeed, or he would not have disfigured his work by the 

 insertion of so many of the absurdities of the Genevese 

 apiarian. 



Let us, however, proceed in our analogies ; and we adduce 

 the following as a most talented specimen of logical reason- 

 ing on the part of Mr. Kirby. It is admitted on all sides 

 that nature does at times commit some most extraordinary 

 freaks, as if she were determined to caricature her own 

 works, and send forth into the world some oddities, which 

 cannot be classed under any of the known genera of animated 

 beings. The chief primary character of all animals is the 

 propagation of their own species ; but there are secondary 

 distinctive characters, which are generally the effect of old 

 age, and which Mr. Kirby here calls in to assist him in his 

 illustration of the theories of Huber. Thus, says Mr. 

 Kirby, " the beard in men, and the bosom in women are 

 secondary characters, which are produced at a certain period 

 of life, and in some instances, they are changed for those of 

 the other sex, which does not arise from any actions at the 

 first formation, but they take place when the great command 

 of ' increase and multiply' ceases to operate. Thus women 

 advanced in life are sometimes distinguished by beards, 

 and hen birds after they have done laying occasionally assume 

 the plumage of the cock." Mr. Kirby discovers that these 

 cases bear a strict analogy with the expansion of the ovarium 

 and the consequent endowment of fertility of the common 

 bee ; we confess, however, that it is by far too remote for 

 our understanding to trace. Mr. Kirby, however, in some 

 degree attempts to qualify the foregoing statements, but 

 unfortunately he plunges deeper into the dilemma ; for he 

 says, " for females to assume the secondary character of 



