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, douse, or rare, 
With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues its way, 
And swims, or sinks, or wados, or creeps, or flics. ’ ” * 
The muscular strength of insects is immense. We 
once were surprised by a feat performed by a Beetle 
( Oi'yctes maimon) common in the United States. W e 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. 
