Insect Architecture, id- 



precision the width of the roll; and, at last, accomplished their object at 

 the suggestion of a bystander, by a strap revolving upon an axis, at a cost 

 of three shillings and sixpence. Such is the diiference between the work- 

 ings of human knowledge and experience and those of animal instinct ! We 

 proceed slowly, and in the dark ; but our course is not bounded by a nar- 

 row line, for it seems difficult to say what is the perfection of any art ; 

 animals go clearly to a given point, but they can go no further. We may, 

 however, learn something from their perfect knowledge of what is within 

 their range. It is not improbable that if man had attended in an earlier 

 state of society to the labours of wasps, he would have sooner known how 

 to make paper. We are still behind in our arts and sciences, because we 

 have not always been observers. If we had watched the operations of in- 

 sects, and the structure of animals in general, with more care, we might 

 have been far advanced in the knowledge of many arts which are yet in 

 their infancy ; for nature has given us abundance of patterns. We have 

 learned to perfect some instruments of sound, by examining the structure of 

 the human ear; and the mechanism of an eye has suggested some valuable 

 improvements in achromatic glasses." (p. 85.) 



Largely as we have already quoted the work, we need make 

 no apology for presenting our readers with another long ex- 

 tract, relating to the different texture and durability observable 

 in the cocoons formed by caterpillars, according to the length 

 of time the enclosed insect is to remain in its chrysalis or qui- 

 escent state ; though, at the same time, strictly speaking, we 

 are hardly prepared to go with our author the length of attri- 

 buting to the little architects thought, foresight, and positive 

 intelligence ; or to admit the propriety of the expression, that 

 " one caterpillar is aware, while it is building the cocoon," 

 &c., and " the other pursuing a similar course of thought,''^ &c. 

 In our avowed and unavoidable ignorance on these subjects, 

 we think it preferable to speak of such operations in the 

 usual manner, as being the result of instinct. 



" It is worthy of remark, as one of the most striking instances of in- 

 stinctive foresight, that the caterpillars which build structures of this sub- 

 stantial description, are destined to be much longer in their chrysalis trance 

 than those which spin merely a flimsy web of silk. For the most part, 

 indeed, the latter undergo their final transformation in a few v/eeks ; while 

 the former continue entranced the larger portion of a year, appearing in the 

 perfect state the summer after their architectural labours have been com- 

 pleted. This is a remarkable example of the instinct which leads these 

 little creatures to act with a foresight in many cases much clearer than the 

 dictates of human prudence. In the examples before us, the instinct is more 

 delicate and complex than that which directs other animals to provide a 

 burrow for their winter sleep. It is not unreasonable to suppose that the 

 one caterpillar is aware, while it is building the cocoon, that the moth 

 into which it is about to be changed will not be in a fit state to appear be- 

 fore the succeeding summer. The other, pursuing a sunilar course of thought 

 may feel that the moth will see the light in a few weeks. The comparative 

 distances of time certainly appear most difficult to be understood by an 

 insect ; for, as far as we know, quadrupeds do not carry their intelligence 

 to such an extent. And yet, in the solitary case of provision for a future 

 progeny, the instinct is invariably subtle and extraordinary. What, for 

 mstance, is more remarkable than that the insect should always place her 



Vol. IV. — No. 17. e 



