66 The Ottawa Naturalist. [July 



necessary one, and one upon which there should be less ignorance 

 than at present prevails. Instruction on insect life is incomplete 

 and insufficient if these important aspects of the subject are not 

 carefully interpreted to the child, and apart from the inherent 

 utility, the increased interest aroused in the child's mind is such 

 that the lesson will be remembered far better than if a mere 

 "nature talk" of the usual type were given. 



It is impossible in a short article of this nature, the object 

 of which is one of suggestion rather than of formulation, to 

 indicate the numerous subjects which insect and animal life 

 treated in this manner supplies. There has been far too great 

 a tendency in the past to treat animal life in a really lifeless 

 fashion, and in a merely descriptive and "object lesson" manner. 

 The interrelationship, the methods of living and the functions of 

 animals have been insufficiently considered. To the child they 

 existed, but existence is a small part of life. A living creature 

 is not individualistic, it is a member of a vast kingdom of 

 living beings, striving for existence, preying upon each other 

 and in turn attacked insidiously by enemies greater or smaller 

 than itself; seeking to secure the best means for the continuity 

 of its kind, which is their chief end and paying dearly for mistakes 

 in judgment or action. Individualism is impossible in the world 

 of living things, every unit of life is dependent on and bears some 

 relation to others, and, therefore, to treat them independently 

 is not only impossible but wrong. A diatom is a microscopic 

 unit of vegetable life and interesting in itself, but how much more 

 interesting is it when we know it is not only one of the land- 

 makers, by the accumulation of its microscopic skeletal struc- 

 tures, but also an important foundation of our food, for upon it 

 numerous small Crustacea feed, these in turn are consumed by 

 larger Crustacea of the crab family, and on these fishes subsist, 

 and in this way contribute to the food of man himself. It is 

 very rarely realized how dependent we are upon the constant 

 warfare which is taking place in the realm of insect life for even 

 our own existence. Were it not for the enemies of insects, to 

 escape from which the latter are constantly striving, we should 

 be deprived of every article of food, and vegetation would not 

 exist, but the activity of certain insects, which are parasitic on 

 the insects destroying our crops and vegetation, keeps them in 

 check and thanks to the habits of those species of birds which 

 feed upon insects, a balance is maintained. If a certain species 

 of insects, owing to a plentiful supply of a suitable food, 

 increases out of proportion, it is almost invariablv checked by 

 a concomitant increase in its enemies. The importance of 

 parasitic enemies in controlling these insects destructive to 

 vegetation and in maintaining this balance is well illustrated 



