MORAL OF LONG LEGS. 101 



If we were disposed to seek moralities iu the regions of 

 fancy, we might suppose that this extreme fragility of the 

 limbs of Father Longiegs was intended to keep him humble,, 

 reminding him of the slight tenure of bodily endowments, and 

 thereby teaching him not to " ride too high a horse " over his 

 more lowly creeping insect brethren ; or, to suppose a pur- 

 pose something nearer probability, we might suggest that since 

 it is better to lose part than all better to leave a leg behind 

 than to part with life that this very fragility of limb was given 

 to the Father Louglegs by way of preservative, when he hap- 

 pens to be laid hold of by boy, bird, or spider. But not to 

 pursue further such speculative notions, we shall close our ob- 

 servations on the crane-fly's shanks, by one other, founded on 

 the indisputable fact, that with his singular aptitude to lose 

 them is combined an apparent indifference about their loss, 

 even more remarkable. This, with the like instances of seem- 

 ing obtuseness to suffering from outward injuries, exemplifies 

 a natural provision, of which (exposed as are insects to innu- 

 merable mutilations) it is not at all difficult to perceive the kind 

 and merciful intent. 



Spite of his long skipping strides and rapid flight, few 

 insects fall, indeed, into more frequent jeopardy than the crane- 

 fly and his Tipulidan brethren, which, besides a host of more 

 open enemies, are not without their fox-like destroyers. 

 Taking now the circuit of our meadow, we find the hedges 

 beset thickly with the nets of geometric spiders, each with its? 



