198 MORAL OF INSECT MOVEMENTS. 



generation as these, the children of instinct, and whether it be 

 not time with each of us to begin our preparations for that 

 winter which, on earth, is followed by no spring. 



And from our late cursory review of insect movements 

 there also suggests itself, without straining at a moral, a 

 something of individual application in the inquiry as to which 

 among them may represent most aptly our mode of progress or 

 position. 



Are we like the giddy whirlwig, idly gyrating in the sun of 

 pleasure? or, as quaintly expressed by a courtly moralist,* sick, 

 at least for a season, of courtly vanities, arc we " daily fol- 

 lowing of vain pursuits, and so, lykc to a mill-horse treddinge 

 alwaies in the same steppes, ever as far from a worthy and 

 wise man as the circle from the centre ?" 



Or, as opposed to the worldly giddy, are we of the worldly 

 cunning, ever on the watch, like the wily ant-lion, to arrest 

 for our own benefit the progress of others, while we ourselves 

 unconsciously walk backwards ? If we are pursuing a straight- 

 forward path, is it, with the " arrowy flight ; ' of the bee, a 

 course of industry and innocence, or, with the headlong march 

 or flight of the locust, one of reckless mischief ? 



" Straight forward goes 



The lightning's path ; and straight the fearful course 

 Of cannon-ball. Direct it flies and rapid, 

 Shattering that it may reach, and shattering 

 "What it reaches." 



: Sir J. Harrington : Sugce Antiques' 



