found to be the characteristic attribute of our race, upon the moral and intellectual benefits to be derived from the contemplation of such creatures as this Earthworm, Fly, and Honey-Bee, to whose nature we have devoted a few descriptive pages, as well as from the review of the mental attributes of animals, including those of our own race, which has necessarily formed a portion of our subject.

If you permit your thoughts to travel back to the commencement of the first of these little treatises, you will recollect that the object with which we set out was, if possible, to show how the humblest and most commonplace of Nature's forms are deserving of our careful attention, not only from their intrinsic value as works of the Creator, but as affording useful lessons in the education of our minds. That we have not been able fully to accomplish this object through the printed pages of a book may be easily understood; but the imperfection of the artificial means employed must by no means be regarded as a proof that the consideration of the living forms themselves would be alike insufficient for the attainment of the desired end.

Not only will the careful investigation of those creatures be far more agreeable and more conducive to the formation of a well-ordered mind than the mere perusal of a descriptive text-book, but it cannot fail to lead to discoveries on the part of the student that will entitle him to rank amongst the pioneers of knowledge. We shall, however, proceed to employ the means at our disposal, and to ascertain what results

we have been able thus far to obtain from our popular inquiries.

First, then, we trust that we have succeeded in showing beyond a doubt that those creatures which many persons are in the habit of regarding as commonplace, or even contemptible, are found, on nearer examination, to be far more interesting than the first glance would lead us to imagine, and that the consideration of their various parts serves to teach us, in a simple and efficient manner, upon what principles the organization of the whole animal fabric is based. The ease with which we can penetrate their external integument or envelope for the purpose of examining their vital organs, or can even contemplate the functional operations of these whilst the creatures are alive, without the infliction of pain or injury*, renders them peculiarly suitable as objects of study for the uninitiated in the mysteries of science.

We have seen also that their abundance is a great advantage in the sense just referred to; for those who have not the time, inclination, or opportunity to enter a dissecting-room, may almost at any time secure a Worm, a Fly, or a Bee, and submit it to microscopical investigation. The very universality, therefore, that has rendered them so commonplace, constitutes in the eyes of the naturalist their chief value as objects of study and investigation.

But have we found that the naturalist alone is benefited by the existence of these vulgar creatures? * See note on page 58.

Have we not also ascertained that those living beings which we were apt to regard as useless, or nearly so, are of far greater importance in the economy of creation than others that we are in the habit of tending with a fostering care?

We poison, or otherwise destroy the troublesome flies, whilst we seek, by every means that human ingenuity can devise, to multiply our stock of Bees, and are willing to devote any amount of time, labour, and expense, to save the lives of those swarms that were formerly, and are still in some cases, destroyed, in order to obtain the honey.

But we ask you, reader, to recall to mind the services rendered to us by each of these creatures, and then to say which of the two is the most essential to our existence, the Bee or the Fly?

No one will deny that the Bee is a very useful insect; to its industry we are indebted for wax and honey, which substances facilitate in many respects the practice of art, science, and domestic economy. But what injury would result to us if every hive, with its inhabitants, were swept from the face of the earth?

On the other hand, let us suppose that we had no flies to annoy us in the summer months: how should we fare in regard to health? Who would search out and clear away the carcases of animals, and protect us from the effluvia arising from their decomposition, with the same celerity and precision as do these little natural scavengers? Their very abundance, which

causes us so much discomfort during a few weeks in the year, is the beneficent provision made by the Ruler of Nature for their universal presence at a season when decomposition proceeds with the greatest activity in every direction; and wherever there are animal remains to be converted into useful food for man or beast, there we will guarantee that you may find at least the one fly which (with its progeny) is capable, according to a reflecting naturalist, of devouring the carcase of an ox in a shorter space of time than a lion could accomplish the same task.

And turn we to the Worm; that worthless, creeping abomination to the shallow intellect. Here we find a creature not only admirably constituted for a special purpose; but, what is that purpose? Why, the formation of the very soil upon which we move! of the superficial deposit whence proceeds the nutriment without which neither Fly, Bee, nor we ourselves could maintain existence !

It is indeed a fact which no naturalist will gainsay, that the principle here enunciated is not limited to these three forms of life alone, but that as a general rule all the lower animals that we are apt most to undervalue are on due consideration found to be of the greatest importance in the economy of Nature. Nor have we found these so-called ignoble creatures to be left unprovided and defenceless to take their chance in the "struggle for existence." Each is endowed by its Creator with bodily and mental attributes the most perfectly adapted to its

sphere of action; the humble Worm with its innumerable hooks to enable it to penetrate the soil in search of food; the Fly with its proboscis to secure its share of nutriment; the industrious little Bee with her pollen-baskets, her wax-pockets, and all the other requirements of her calling; and both Fly and Bee, along with their congeners, are furnished with innumerable eyes having in all probability varying ranges of vision, to guide them in search of a friendly store or warn them of the approach of winged enemies, both of their own class and amongst the feathered tribes.

It is a truth that cannot be too often nor too earnestly impressed upon our minds, whilst our attention is directed to the natural history of animals, that

"Not to the human race alone

Is His paternal goodness shown;
The tribes of earth, and sea, and air,
Enjoy His universal care;"

for each created being has its share of love and its sphere of usefulness allotted by its Maker.

Another fact, which has been brought under our notice in a striking manner, is, that, however conversant we may imagine ourselves to be with the so-called laws of life, it is not wise to hasten to conclusions based upon our present knowledge of them; or at least to be dogmatical in the expression of our opinions.

The recent discoveries of zoologists concerning the various modes of reproduction in animals, and espe