8 LIFE AND HER CHILDREN. 
body, like the spider. It hides from its enemies 
by having a shape or colour like the rocks or the 
leaves, the grass or the water, which surround it. It 
provides for its young ones either by getting food for 
them, or by putting them, even before they come out 
of the egg, into places where their food is ready for 
them as soon as they are born. 
So that the whole life of an animal depends upon 
the way in which its body is made ; and it will lead 
quite a different existence according to the kind of 
tools with which life provides it, and the instincts 
which a long education has been teaching to its 
ancestors for ages past. It will have its own peculiar 
struggles, and difficulties, and successes, and enjoy- 
ments, according to the kind of bodily powers which 
it possesses, and the study of these helps us to under- 
stand its manner of existence. 
And now, since we live in the world with all 
these numerous companions, which lead, many of 
them, such curious lives, trying like ourselves to make 
the best of their short time here, is it not worth 
while to learn something about them ? May we not 
gain some useful hints by watching their contrivances, 
sympathising with their difficulties, and studying 
their history ? And above all, shall we not have 
something more to love and to care for when we 
o 
have made acquaintance with some of Life's other 
children besides ourselves ? 
The one great difficulty, however, in our way, is 
how to make acquaintance with such a vast multitude. 
Most of us have read anecdotes about one animal or 
another, but this does not give us any clue to the 
