24 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



Caterpillars, our gardens, woods, and fields would 

 soon be abandoned by the whole feathered tribe who 

 feed on them, and melancholy sadness shroud the 

 abodes of man. Ardently, then, would we long for 

 the return of the noxious Caterpillars, and with 

 them the joyous songsters of the forest. In like 

 manner, we ignorantly despise, and contrive means 

 to destroy many birds who devour our vegetables, 

 without considering that they rid us of a much 

 greater evil in destroying millions of mice and noxious 

 insects. So beautifully is the' doctrine of compensation 

 illustrated throughout the Animal Kingdom, as well 

 as in all the objects of Nature. 



Now among the Beetles of prey, which feed on 

 other living insects, I mention first the handsome 

 Lady-bird, (Coccinella), (Plate I. Fig. 5), which is 

 quite small, of a discoid form, and for the most part 

 yellow or red, with or without spots; but some species 

 are black. They look like coloured turtles, and are 

 known to every child. But few persons know that 

 these little creatures are of great service in the 

 economy of Nature. They are found upon all those 

 trees and shrubs which are infested with the plant- 

 lice (Aphis) which are so injurious to peach, pear, 

 apple, and plum-trees, and others, as well as rose- 

 bushes and other shrubs, and they make their principal 

 food of these disgusting and destructive creatures. 



