Delight in Beauty -- Divine Appreciation of it -- Magnificent Flower in a Thicket -- Beauty of Deer -- Pet Fawn -- Eye of Gazelle -- Spotted Fur -- Zebra-stripes -- Birds -- Spoonbills on the Amazon -- Carolina Parakeet -- Cock of the Rock -- Soft blending in the Goatsuckers -- Resplendent Trogon -- Metallic Colours -- Rifle-bird -- Plume-birds -- Iridescent Hues -- Sun-birds -- Humming-birds -- Mexican Names -- Jamaican Humming-birds -- Mango -- Long-tail -- Cause of changeable Lustre -- Angle of Light -- Other Examples -- Region of the Amazon and Rio Negro -- Birds -- Fiery Topaz Humming-bird -- Cerro of Potosi -- Night-blowing Cactus -- Bar-tail Comet -- Pheasant tribe -- Chinese Pheasants -- Fire-back of Java -- Argus of Malacca -- Impeyan of India -- Polyprectons -- Peacock -- Wild Peacock-shooting -- Paradise-birds -- Emerald -- His Vanity in Dress -- Splendour of Insects -- Metallic Beetles -- Soft Refulgence -- Gem-scales -- Butterflies -- Changes 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 -- Orchideæ -- Sobralia -- Cypripedium -- Anæctochilus -- 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.