FOOD OF INSECTS. 401 



difficulty in supplying their wants. In the lai'va state 

 they generally find themselves placed by the parent in- 

 sect upon the very plant or substance which is to nourish 

 them : and in their perfect state their wings or feet afford 

 a ready conveyance to the banquet to which by an un- 

 erring sense they are directed. All nature lies before 

 them, and it is only when their numbers are extraordi- 

 narily increased, or in consequence of some unusual 

 destruction of their appropriate aliment, that they perish 

 for want. The description of their food renders unne- 

 cessary those artifices to which many of the carnivorous 

 insects are obliged to have recourse : and none of them, 

 if we except the white-ants, whose cunning mode of insi- 

 nuating themselves into houses in tropical climates has 

 been detailed in a former letter, can be said to use stra- 

 tagem in obtaining their food. 



Of the carnivorous species, the greater proportion at- 

 tack their prey by open violence, such as the predaceous 

 beetles, the Ichneumons, burrowing wasps, and true 

 wasps; the praying insects (Mantis); the bugs (Geo- 

 coriscE Latr.) ; dragon-flies (Libellulina), &c, ; which 

 have been before adverted to. But a very considerable 

 number, chiefly, however, of one tribe, that of spiders, 

 provide their sustenance solely by artifice and stratagem, 

 the singulai'ity of which, and the admirable adaptation 

 of the instruments by which they take their prey to the 

 end in view, afford a most wonderful instance of the 

 power and wisdom of the Creator, and have attracted 

 admiration in all ages. A description of these, however, 

 which will require a detailed survey, I must refer to 

 another letter. 



I am, &c. 



VOL. I. 2 u 



