descend, says he, to examine microscopic shells, from their insignificant size; but we cease to think them insignificant, when we reflect that it is by means of the smallest objects, that Nature every where produces her most remarkable and astonishing phenomena. Whatever she may seem to lose in point of volume in the production of living bodies, is amply made up by the number of the individuals, which she multiplies with admirable promptitude to infinity. The remains of such minute animals have added much more to the mass of materials which compose the exterior crust of the globe, than the bones of Elephants, Hippopotami, and Whales.
CHAPTER XVI.
Proofs of design in the Structure of Fossil Articulated Animals.
The third grand division in Cuvier's arrangement of the animal kingdom, viz. the articulated animals, comprehends four classes.
- The Annelidans, or worms with red blood.
- Crustaceans, most familiar to us under the form of Crabs and Lobsters.
- Arachnidans, or Spiders.
- Insects.
