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beginnings of Natural Science, just as it has until recently been 

 the fashion to regard the study of "bugs" as unworthy the 

 attention of serious-minded people. The following lines of that 

 author's Hudibras are directed against the Royal Society of 

 London, which was then but recently founded: 



"He knew whats'ever's to be known, 



And much more than he knew would own. 



***** 



Whether a pulse beat in the black 

 List of a dappled louse's back; 



If systole or diastole move 

 Quickest when he's in wrath or love; 

 When two of them do run a race, 

 Whether they gallop, trot or pace." 



Fortunate indeed for the welfare of mankind is the fact that the 

 day for ridiculing entomology is gone, never to return. 



The saying that a "little nonsense now and then" is relished 

 by even the elect, is familiar to all, but Solomon seems to express 

 the opposite view in: 



"The tongue of the wise adorneth knowledge; 

 But the mouth of fools bubbleth out folly!" 



Those who side with the patriarch would better withdraw 

 their attention for the present, as what follows pretends to be 

 nothing but nonsense! The rhymes and jingles relating to 

 insects are almost endless and, to those who can smile without 

 undue effort, are often amusing. The following, whose author- 

 ship is unknown, appeared in Entomological News some years 

 since: 



"A flea and a fly in a flue 

 Were imprisoned so what could they do? 

 Said the flea, 'Let us fly,' 

 Said the fly, 'Let us flee,' 

 So they flew through a flaw in the flue." 



A similar verbal see-saw recently has appeared in the "Yale 

 Record": 



"If flies are flies because they fly, 

 And fleas are fleas because they flee, 

 Then bees are bees because they be." 



Frequently these entomological jests take the form of fables, 

 such as the following: 



"Double, Double Toil and Trouble." 



An ant, a wasp and a bumble-bee 

 Were met one day beneath a tree; 



