CONTENTS. XVII 



" We challenge all the nations" 



Insect artizaus, whose tools of divine adaptation, and works divinely guided, 

 defy, unpresumingly, all human competition 3:>:> 



50. TWO THINGS OF DIFFICULT DEFINITION. 



The subject of this Vignette is the Parsonage House at Barham, Suffolk, of 

 the late venerable and lamented Mr. Kirby, the distinguished author, 

 in conjunction with Mr. Speuce, of the well -known 'Introduction to 

 Entomology,' and of one of the ' Bridgewater Treatises,' The Wasp in 

 the foreground, employed in cutting off the wings of a fly, with a view 

 to its more convenient transport, is illustrative of an anecdote given by 

 Dr. Darwin, and quoted by Kirby, in his observations on two classes of 

 insect activities those prompted solely by Instinct, and those guided 

 by apparent Reason 334 



" More ways than one of getting at the bottom of a secret.'" 



A portly Humble Bee, one too bulky for entrance at the spring door of the 

 Snapdragon, leading to its nectary, bores a hole at the bottom of the 

 floral cask to obtain its honeyed wine 357 



51. THE SPIRITS OF HEARTH AND HOME. 



A trio of common Cockroaches (Blatta Germanica), commonly misnamed 

 Black Beetles, are the invaders of the kitchen here represented . . 358 



" Memory , painter of the past, let us invoke thee" 



Acheta, in a review of past stages, traces the development of his own imago, 

 his present self 412 



