of
Hue -- Opalescence -- Ray on the "_Cui bono?_" -- Smith on South
American Butterflies -- Splendour of Spiders -- in Jamaica -- in Borneo
-- Tortoise-beetles -- Beauty of Plants -- Mosses -- Ferns -- Palms --
Grasses -- Bamboo -- in Jamaica -- in Madagascar -- Plantains -- Scene
in Tahiti -- Beauty exceeds our Power of Imbibing it -- Flowers --
Orchideae -- Sobralia -- Cypripedium -- Anaectochilus -- Dendrobium --
Huntleya -- Scene in Guiana -- Death of Reiss -- Rhododendrons of
Himalayas -- of Borneo -- Lightning-tree of Madagascar -- Flamboyant --
Barbadoes Pride -- Burmese tree -- Le Bois Immortel -- Scene in Tartary
-- Microscopic Beauties of London Pride, 302

XI. PARASITES.

Fleas on fleas _ad infinitum_ -- Intestinal Worms -- Economy of
Creation -- Epiphyte Vegetation -- Life in a Sea-weed -- Orchids in the
Tropics -- Parasitic Fig-trees -- Lianes -- in Ceylon -- Parasitism in
Insects -- Ichneumons -- Kirby's Discovery of Stylops -- Economy --
Oil-beetle -- Medusa and Shrimp -- Medusa parasitic on Medusa -- Fish in
Stomach of Star-fish -- Crab and Sponge -- Hermit Crab and Polype --
Parasites in Corals -- Ostrich parasitic on Ostrich -- Cuckoo and Cowpen
birds -- Veneration of Small Birds for Cuckoo -- Slavery among Ants --
Nigger-hunting, 359

APPENDIX.

Sea-serpent -- Additional Testimonies to its Existence -- Statement of
Consul Grattan -- Communication from Mr Stephen Cave, 387

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATE PAGE

I. FASCINATION (_Frontispiece_).

II. ENCOUNTER WITH A MOA, 36

III. SPEARING THE ANCIENT ELK, 56

IV. THE CLIMBING PERCH, 122

V. TOAD IN A HOLE, 158

VI. BIRD-EATING SPIDER, 240

VII. SNAKE-CHARMING, 278

VIII. ANTELOPES, 304

IX. PLUME-BIRD, 310

X. PEACOCK-SHOOTING, 326

THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY.

I.

THE EXTINCT.

If it is a scene of painful interest, as surely it is to a
well-constituted mind, to stand by and watch the death-struggles of one
of the nobler brutes,--a dog or an elephant, for example,--to mark the
failing strength, the convulsive throes, the appealing looks, the sobs
and sighs, the rattling breath, the glazing eye, the stiffening
limbs--how much more exciting is the interest with which we watch the
p