VALUE OF INSECTS, 5 



simple act of buildiug tlieir wonderiul nests. Tliey are per- 

 petually engaged iu trausi'erriug to the aurfuee of the eartli the 

 soil which they have taken irom beneath it, and so continually 

 renewing and fertilizing it with fresh soil. These insects indeed 

 play very much the part that our much-despised mole and worm 

 do at home. It would be easy to multiply examples indehniteJy, 

 but I have chosen these insects iu order to show how even the 

 very cr3atures which are most detested by man, and do him the 

 most direct damage, are indeed, though indirectly, among his 

 best benefactors. Apart from direct benefit or injury to man, 

 the whole of the insect tribes are working towards one purpose, 

 namely, the gradual development of the earth and its resources. 

 The greater number are perpetually destroying that which is 

 etfete, in order to make way for something better ; while others, 

 whose business seems chietly to be the killing and eating of 

 their fellow-insects, act as a check to tlieir inordinate increase, 

 and so guard against the danger uf their exceeding their proper 

 mission. 



