152 



LIFE, IN ITS INTERMEDIATE FORMS. 



fessor Owen thus eloquently speaks of the various powers 

 of these indefatigable little creatures : — 



" Some traverse the surface of the earth with a suc- 

 cession of steps too swift for definition ■ some by leaps so 

 extraordinary as to have excited the powers of the dyna- 

 mical calculator from the earliest periods. The waters 

 also have their insect population, some swiftly cleaving 

 the clear element, some gyrating on the surface, while 

 others creep along the bottom. Nor are the activities of 

 the aquatic insect confined to that lower sphere. The 

 Nepa, or the Dytiscus, at the same time, may possess its 

 organs of creeping, of burrowing, and of flight ; thus, like 

 Milton's fiend, it is qualified for different elements, and 



' Though straight, rough, dense, or rare. 



With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues its way, 

 And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. ' " * 



The muscular strength of insects is immense. We 

 once were sufprised by a feat performed by a Beetle 

 ( Oryctes maimoii) common in the United States. We had put 

 the insect, for want of any box at hand, beneath a quart 

 bottle full of milk upon a table, the hollow at the bottom 

 allowing him room to stand upright. Presently, to our 

 surprise, the bottle began slowly to move and glide along 

 the smooth table, propelled by the muscular power of the 

 imprisoned insect, and continued for some time to peram- 

 bulate the surface, to the astonishment of all who wit- 

 nessed it. The weight of the bottle and its contents could 

 not have been less than three pounds and a half ; while 

 that of the beetle was about half an ounce, so that it 

 readily moved a weight 112 times exceeding its own. A 



* Comp. Anat. i. 213. 



