INSECT ENJOYMENT. 211 



or more distinct senses, each with its perfect, curious, often 

 complicated mechanic organ, as existing in a creature no bigger 

 than a full stop, or even invisible to our unassisted sight, we 

 are led at once from the extreme of minuteness to the infinite 

 vastness of that Creative Power whose works can neither be 

 circumscribed by want of space, nor lose one atom of impor- 

 tance because, for want of bulk, they may be impalpable to our 

 limited perception. 



On the whole, then, it would appear that Insects can boast 

 of very rich endowments in the gifts of sense, and ample in pro- 

 portion would seem the amount of enjoyment which they are 

 permitted to derive from their exercise. Our little denizens of 

 leaf and flower are, in short, most " epicurean animals." 

 Already is their feast begun on the succulent and tender pro- 

 ducts of the spring : but let us for a moment anticipate a 

 season more advanced, let us wander together on some fine 

 morning of midsummer into the fragrant flowery woods ; and, 

 while our other senses drink delight involuntary, let us fix our 

 sight, and regale it upon a visible epitome a perfect concentra- 

 tion of Insect pleasure, tasted through the medium of like senses 

 with our own. Ask you where ? Why ! on this branchlet of the 

 graceful eglantine. Look ! in the very centre of that ex- 

 panded rose, rolling and revelling amidst the crowded anthers, 

 and scattering their golden dust upon the ivory petals, is a red- 

 tailed or " red-tipped " Humble-bee. He, we may be sure, is in 

 the very height of enjoyment, as ever and anon he sings shrilly 



