EARLY PREJUDICES. 75 



haps, where all is perfection, we should say rather) the 

 most elaborate and certainly the most permanent of insect forms. 



Let it not, however,, be supposed that we would give the 

 rein,, without restriction,, to that spirit of inquiry which chil- 

 dren are so fond of putting into practical exercise upon insects 

 and other living objects. We should no more encourage them 

 to handle a spider or a beetle, harmless as they are, than a 

 wasp or hornet. We would only have them taught to leave 

 the creatures unmolested,, by an appeal, as soon as reason and 

 feeling open, to the best, instead of to the worst, of their dawn- 

 ing propensities. To tell them truly, that by molesting they 

 will cause pain and injury to a harmless little animal, is calling 

 forth their tenderness and self-denial. To tell them falsely, 

 that if touched the insect will cause pain to them, is at once 

 to instil an error, and to excite in them unnatural antipathies 

 and selfish fears. 



To return to the Rose Chafer, of whom our recommendation 

 as a pet was more than half in earnest. We have now our- 

 selves a pair of these pretty insects caged in an open- worked 

 basket, with serious intent to test the extent of their longevity, 

 said by Boe'sel to have reached, in an individual of his own 

 keeping, to the term (for an insect patriarchal) of three years. 

 As was done by the German naturalist, we supply our captives, 

 in addition to their favorite roses, with fruit and sugared 

 moistened bread, a fare with which they seem by no means 



VOL. II. F 



