PROTRACTED CONTINUANCE OK INSECTS IN THE CHRYSALIS STATE. 11 



recovery, gives to the said stocking an appearance of life and motion, which 

 it does not in reality possess. 



The Ichneumons would naturally remain till the spring ere they came forth 

 in ^propricX persona/ when they would be prepared in turn to deposit their 

 eo-o-s in the bodies of other caterpillars, and thus fulfil their mission, as agents, 

 in common with insectivorous birds, appointed by Creative Wisdom to keep 

 a salutary check upon the too rapid increase of species, which might otherwise 

 become so exceedingly numerous as to overrun the whole earth, and devour 

 •^every green thing;" thus rendering the labours of the husbandman abortive, 

 and his efforts in the cultivation of the soil fruitless. Why then will the 

 husbandmen blindly persist in destroying these latter-named agents, for no 

 other reason, forsooth, than because some of the species, as well as being 

 eminently insectivorous, happen to be also in a trifling degree granivorous; 

 but is this a sufficient reason why they should be destroyed? Suppose a 

 farmer, acting upon this principle, were to slaughter and destroy his horses, 

 for they too, as well as the birds, consume a portion of his produce, what 

 would be thought of that man? Would he not be deemed an eligible can- 

 didate for Saint Luke's — a fitting subject to be placed under restraint? 

 undoubtedly he would; and yet he really would not be acting a more insane 

 part than his neighbours, who persist in destroying Sparrows and other birds. 



Immensely as the benefits derived from the services of the horse, when 

 put in the scale against the loss sustained by the corn, and other farm produce 

 which he consumes, turns the balance in his favour; it would not be found 

 to be relatively greater than the benefits derived from the services of the 

 Sparrow, if submitted to a similar test. 



Whether we reflect on the infinite wisdom which the Almighty has displayed 

 in the ordinary provision He has made for keeping within due limits the 

 different classes of beings He has formed, of which the habits and economy of 

 the Ichneumonidae, briefly noticed above, afford us a familiar example; or whether 

 we consider His infinite goodness in a like provision for the preservation of 

 each particular species, which to the observer of nature will in a thousand 

 ways manifest itself, we shall scarcely fail to find awakened within us feelings 

 of a holy devotion, of fervent piety, and of the highest adoration of Him who, 

 although he ^'inhabiteth eternity" — though his dwelling-place is in the "highest 

 heaven" — yet condescendeth to provide for the life and enjoyment of the 

 meanest creature upon earth — of Him who 



"Gives the lustre to an insect's wing, 

 And wheels His throne upon the rolling worlds." 



But to those who attentively watch the operations of nature, an extraordinary 

 provision for the preservation of a particular species will likewise occasionally 

 present itself; the following fact, which came under my observation not very long 

 ago, may serve as an illustration : — I had about thirty caterpillars of the Water 

 Betony Moth, (Cucullia scrophuIari.ee,) which all passed into the chrysalis state 

 in the autumn, having previously buried themselves in the earth contained in 



