But we must now end this long chapter, remembering that we have spoken
of only a few of the living creatures which belong to the vast family of
animals which have no body framework or skeleton; you can read in larger
books the wonderful things which are told about jelly-fishes and sponges,
bees and wasps, flies and gnats, and green tiger-beetles--for when we
have made a beginning in these little talks of ours together about God's
creatures, it will be pleasant to go on; so pleasant for some of us that,
having once begun, the difficult thing will be to know where to leave off.
I wish I could show you some pictures which I have seen of fossil insects.
I believe white ants and dragon-flies, and even a butterfly, have been
found among the rocky strata, but those of which I speak were preserved in
amber, which is a clear yellow substance, long thought to be a mineral,
but now recognised as the hardened resin of ancient pine-trees. In this
transparent sepulchre bees and wasps, gnats, spiders, and beetles have been
buried, some uninjured, and others with broken legs or wings. They must
have got into the sticky gum while it was moist, and been unable to
escape--and so have lain for ages in their transparent tomb.
I wonder whether these verses, which came to my mind while we were speaking
of the lessons we should learn from those creatures which faithfully use
the wisdom given them, are new to you.
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