MOTH MECHANICS. 229 



-general, because even in their very ravages, wherein they feed 

 themselves for the support of other creatures, they are made 

 subservient to upholding the universal government of creation ; 

 and particular, because, in a very remarkable degree, their 

 every proceeding has for its object the conservation of their 

 kind ; or, to speak more accurately, because all their doings, in 

 obedience to this common law of nature, are so strikingly 

 adapted to fulfil it. 



This principle of conservatism is carried out by moth cater- 

 pillars in a multitude of ingenious works, wherein, according 

 to their species, or rather according to their varied exigencies, 

 they become artificers or operatives, capable of being distin- 

 guished by distinct denominations, correspondent with many 

 of those which are applied to human occupations. 



We believe it was Eeaumer, who, with the lively fancy of 

 his nation and character, first thought of arranging these 

 caterpillars, as well as some of the solitary workers among 

 wasps and bees, into the several crafts of " Stone-masons," 

 " Carpenters," " Tent-makers," " Muff-makers," " Flask- 

 makers," and " Miners ;" each of these mechanics exercising, 

 in addition to his particular art, that of the weaver, common 

 to them all ; from the silk -worm first manufacturer of royal 

 robes down to the tiny grub of the clothes' -moth, making, 

 as we have seen, its own little body-coat, either from wool or 

 from the produce of its cousin's labour. 



With respect to the solidity, if not the ingenuity of his 



