EPHEMERA. \79 
substances which do not in some way 
contribute to the support, or serve for 
the food of animal life. The ship-worm, 
for instance, lives on hard timber, which 
has been so many years cut down and 
seasoned, that all nourishment might 
naturally be supposed to have been dried 
up ; yet many a ship has been lost by 
the ravages of these diminutive enemies. 
There are even creatures, which feed 
upon the stone in which they excavate 
their dwelling places. 
Lucy. Oh ! mamma, you are deter- 
mined to surprise me to day ; mud, and 
old timber were, I thought, very singular 
kinds of food ; but to eat stone is still 
more amazing. 
Mother, Each fact is in itself suffici- 
ently surprising; but when we collect into 
one view the numberless contrivances 
employed throughout the animal world, 
our minds are then indeed lost in as- 
tonishment and veneration. 
But to return to the ephemera; aft^r 
