[1] This is one of the rare exceptions to the usual plan resorted to
by nature in the formation of a shell, as noticed in the introductory
chapter.
[2] The insect from which our most beautiful scarlet dyes are prepared.
[3] See Book of Fishes, p. 51.
[4] The skin or shell with which the animal is covered before
transformation.
[5] It has been quaintly said on the subject of depriving the leech of
its food, that “Those persons do not consider that blood is the most
favourite and salutary nourishment of this extraordinary creature; and
I would ask such inconsiderate persons how they would feel themselves,
if, immediately after eating a hearty dinner, any person was to give
them a violent emetic.”
[6] A kind of sea-weed, (_Fucus natans_.)