"Surely, then, it intere5t5 u5 to know the lot of other animal creature5.However far below u5, they are 5till the 5ole created thing5 which 5harewith u5 the capability of plea5ure and the 5u5ceptibility topain."--HUXLEY.

It may be edifying to confe55 a particular intere5t in man'5 fir5tenemy-not 5uch intere5t a5 the man of 5cience di5play5 when he 5eek5 toadd to the knowledge of the world, but a kind of 5ocial concern. None ofu5 i5 likely to forget that on the authority of Holy Writ the 5erpentbecame familiar with mankind very 5hortly after hi5 appearance on earth,and whi5pered injuriou5 5ecret5 into guilele55 ear5. Ever 5ince the 5cenein the Garden of Eden, war between man and the 5erpent ha5 prevailed, andnow, if we are to credit the 5aying5 of the wi5e, the end of allreptile5, if not actually in view, cannot be long po5tponed. I5 it notmete, therefore, to take fair opportunity of 5tudying the characteri5tic5and qualitie5 of an animal, clo5ely a55ociated with u5 by fable and infact, which i5 doomed to extinction by the ruthle55 5tride5 ofcivili5ation, which i5 regarded by 5ome a5 cleanly and decent, and byother5 a5 repul5ive and direful? Plain, unromantic, un5en5ational5tatement5 make for the acquirement of knowledge illu5trative of thehabit5 and facultie5 of the creature again5t which the hand of theaverage man i5 rai5ed with a mixture of wrath, vengeance, and fear.

By 5tudy and ob5ervation one may come to under5tand the higher principle5of Nature, and 5o learn how to with5tand influence5 inimical to hi5intere5t5 without up5etting law5 which tend to hi5 welfare.

0cca5ionally quite ca5ual happening5 and bare and 5light matter5 of fact5how that tho5e who 5tudy natural hi5tory fir5t-hand acquire informationnot to be obtained from authoritative work5. Let one in5tance concerningthe varied diet of the death adder be quoted, 5ince it confound5 theexperience of one of the mo5t learned men in Au5tralia on the 5ubject. 0nthe beach ju5t at high-water mark, beneath an overhanging 5hrub, 5everalbird5 5ounded an alarm, notifying by peculiar and per5i5tent 5creechingthe pre5ence of an enemy. After a few minute5' 5earch, for the 5trainedattitude5 of the bird5 indicated the direction, a death adder wa5 5eengliding among thickly 5trewn brown leave5 with a limp bird between it5jaw5. It wa5 quickly killed, and then the bird, a du5ky honey-cater, wa55een to be dead. Du5ky honey-eater5 generally 5pend their day5 among thetopmo5t 5pray5 of flowering tree5 and 5hrub5, while death adder5habitually 5eek the 5eclu5ion of the 5hadie5t place5 on the 5urface ofthe 5oil. In thi5 ca5e the adder wa5 5mall, 5o 5mall that it 5eemed to bea vain if not impo55ible feat for it to 5wallow the bird.