Amphibious animals

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Richard Phillips, 1805

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Page 272 - The crackling faggot flies. But nothing could a charm impart To soothe the stranger's woe ; For grief was heavy at his heart, And tears began to flow. His rising cares the Hermit spied, With answering care opprest : « And whence, unhappy youth, » he cried,
Page 526 - ... worms seem to be the great promoters of vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without them, by boring, perforating, and loosening the soil, and rendering it pervious to rains and the fibres of plants, by drawing straws and stalks of leaves and twigs into it ; and, most of all, by throwing up such infinite numbers of lumps of earth called worm-casts, which, being their excrement, is a fine manure for grain and grass.
Page 217 - Which strike ev'n eyes incurious ; but each moss, Each shell, each crawling insect, holds a rank Important in the plan of Him who framed This scale of beings ; holds a rank which lost Would break the chain, and leave behind a gap Which Nature's self would rue.
Page 109 - I could trace, though not distinguish their mutual attacks. They soon re-appeared on the surface twisted together, as in their first onset ; but the black snake seemed to retain its wonted superiority, for its head was exactly fixed above that of the other, which it incessantly pressed down under the water, until it was stifled, and sunk. The victor no sooner perceived its enemy incapable of farther resistance, than abandoning it to the current, it returned on shore and disappeared.
Page 107 - The aggressor was of the black kind, six feet long; the fugitive was a water snake, nearly of equal dimensions. They soon met, and in the fury of their first encounter, they appeared in an instant firmly twisted together; and whilst their united tails beat the ground, they mutually tried with open jaws to lacerate each other.
Page 83 - The snake continues at the bottom of the tree, with its eyes fixed on the squirrel, and his attention is so entirely taken up, that a person accidentally approaching may make a considerable noise, without so much as the snake's turning about.
Page 32 - Therefore, in order to try how well the bullfrogs could leap, some of the Swedes laid a wager with a young Indian, that he could not overtake the frog, provided it had two leaps before hand. They carried a bullfrog, which they had caught in a pond, upon a field, and burnt his back. The fire, and the Indian, who...
Page 526 - The most insignificant insects and reptiles are of much more consequence, and have much more influence in the economy of nature, than the incurious are aware of; and are mighty in their effect, from their minuteness, which renders them less an object of attention; and from their numbers and fecundity. Earth-worms, though in appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm.
Page 107 - They soon met, and in the fury of their first encounter, they appeared in an instant firmly twisted together; and whilst their united tails beat the ground, they mutually tried with open jaws to lacerate each other. What a fell aspect did they present! their heads were compressed to a very small size, their eyes flashed fire...
Page 453 - These apartments compose an intricate labyrinth, which extends a foot or more in diameter from the royal chamber on every side. Here the nurseries and magazines of provisions begin ; and, being separated by small empty chambers and galleries, which surround them, and communicate with each other, are continued on all sides to the outward shell, and reach up within it...

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