394 On the Beneficent Distribution of the Sense of Pain. 



to them, as I have endeavoured to shew there is to rabbits 

 and hares. 



Many cases may be brought forward to shew the absence 

 of pain in insects. I have seen a wasp eat a fly almost im- 

 mediately after a portion of its own abdomen had been cut 

 off; I have also seen a cockchafer crawling and eating on 

 a hedge after its abdomen had been emptied of the viscera, , 

 probably by some bird, It is well known that a dragon-fly 

 will eat freely for a considerable time while confined by a 

 pin through its body ; and every one who has collected en- 

 tomological specimens, must know the difficulty in killing 

 some of the larger moths. But as this paper is already 

 much longer than I originally intended, I shall say no more 

 on this point, as the remarks on the subject in the introduc- 

 tion to Kirby and Spence's Entomology are very generally 

 known. 



It may be well to reflect for a moment on the constant 

 slaughter that is going on amongst the lower class of ani- 

 mals. The number of flies eaten by a single pair of swallows 

 and their young must be immense. 



I once observed a rather extraordinary illustration of the 

 law of nature to eat and be eaten. I kept in a glass globe a 

 variety of the smaller aquatic animals, such as the larvae of the 

 dragon-fly, &c., "and one day introduced amongst them a few 

 of the common water newts and water beetles, one of which 

 was the ditiscus marginalis. The dragon-flies had been living 

 upon the animalculse, &c. ; the newts attacked and devoured 

 the dragon-flies. The next morning I found one of the newts 

 lying at the bottom of the vessel half-eaten, and, while look- 

 ing on, saw the ditiscus attack another newt. Not wishing 

 to have them all destroyed, I took the ditiscus out of the 

 water, and put it in the sunshine a few minutes, when 

 it flew away, and had not gone more than 30 or 40 yards 

 when a sparrow flew after and caught it, This constant de- 

 struction of life would be fearful to contemplate, if there is 

 truth in the quotation so often made, that " the poor beetle 

 that we tread upon, in corporal sufferance finds a pang as 

 great as when a giant dies." 



It may be objected to what I have advanced, that where 



