MOTHS OF LEAF-MINERS. 317 



hawk-moth fashion,, the sweets of various flowers ; those, in 

 particular, of its favourite Knapiueed.* 



We must reserve for another place some notice more in 

 detail of the exquisite painting and gilding bestowed by 

 Nature's hand upon various gems of the insect race; but 

 while speaking of moths with reference to remarkable colouring 

 or remarkable size, we cannot here entirely pass over that 

 tiny tribe which begin life as leaf-mining caterpillars. f These 

 have been justly designated as " Miracles of Nature," resplen- 

 dent with gold, silver, and pearl blended with infinite taste and 

 beauty, and it is of these that Reaumur has spoken as of 

 " Pavilions de la petitesse desquels on est /aches" 



Yes, we regret their minuteness, because our own capacities 

 are so little, and our senses so limited. We may be inclined 

 to wonder, also, that so much ornament should be lavished 

 upon forms well-nigh lost (to us) for w T ant of magnitude; 

 but when we remember that He to whom the immeasurable 

 mass and the invisible atom are both alike, has seen fit to 

 bestow well-nigh as large a portion of a gift more precious, 

 that of instinct, or " animal mind" upon an ant as upon an 

 elephant, we can wonder no longer that the wing of the tiniest 

 moth that ever issued from between the membranes of a leaf 

 or the skin of a barleycorn, should be deemed worthy of an 

 inlay as beautiful and more rich than that of the comparatively 

 giant Death's-head, or yet bulkier Phal&na Atlas. 



* Phrygia uiyrn. t See p. 228, " Moths as Operatives." 



