170 INSECT CHECKS AND COUNTERCHECKS. 



our poultry thrive all the better, especially ducks and turkeys, 

 for a sprinkle of Caterpillars, Flies, and Spiders, as a relish 

 with their ordinary food. 



The aid afforded by Bees and other Insects in the propagation 

 of various flowers, by conveying on their hairy backs the pollen 

 of one to the stigma of another, is no secret to the botanist, 

 and gardeners know something, and ought to know still 

 more, of the value of certain tribes of insect-eating Insects as 

 checks upon the vegetable ravagers of their own race. Both 

 the gardener and the hop-grower would find it worth their 

 while to keep up standing armies of Lady-bird red-coats against 

 the Aphis legions which ravage their plantations and parterres. 

 Lace- winged Flies and Syrphus Grubs are worthy of all en- 

 couragement for the same important service, and, as remarked 

 by Southey, the more Spiders in the stable the less would horses 

 suffer from the Flies. 



But neither from the above nor from any other known benefits, 

 are we to measure the usefulness of the Insect creation as con- 

 nected with other orders of being. A remark of Curtis on the 

 apparently superfluous productions of the vegetable world is 

 equally applicable to those of the Insect kingdom. Speaking 

 of a certain water-grass (aira aquatica), very common in boggy 

 meadows and found to be entirely useless for cattle, he justly 

 observes, that " we ought not to look on this or any other plant 

 as made in vain, because we do not immediately see its purpose. 

 This grass is plucked by various water-fowls, and no less than 



