276 FOOD OF INSECTS. 



their food, imperfect as it is, will, I trust, have interested you sufficiently to 

 drive away the associations of disgust with which you, like almost every 

 one, have probably been accustomed to regard these insects. Instead of 

 considering them as repulsive compounds of cruelty and ferocity, you will 

 henceforward see in their procedures only the ingenious contrivances of 

 patient and industrious hunters, who, while obeying the great law of nature 

 in procuring their sustenance, are actively serviceable to the human race 

 in destroying noxious insects. You will allow the poet to stigmatize 

 them as 



" . . . . cunning and fierce, 

 Mixture abhorred! '' 



but you will see that these epithets are in reality as unjustly applied to 

 them (at least with reference to the mode in which they procure their 

 necessary subsistence) as to the patient sportsman who lays snares for the 

 birds that are to serve for the dinner of his family ; and when you hear 



" . . . . the fluttering wing 

 And shriller sound declare extreme distress," 



you will as little think it the part of true mercy to stretch forth " the 

 helping hospitable hand " to the entrapped fly as to the captive birds. 

 The spider requires his meal as well as the Indian : and, however, to our 

 weak capacity, the great law of creation " eat or be eaten " may seem 

 cruel or unnecessary, knowing as we do that it is the ordinance of a 

 beneficent Being, who does all things well, and that in fact the sum of 

 happiness is greatly augmented by it, no man, who does not let a morbid 

 sensibility get the better of his judgment, will, on account of their sub- 

 jection to this rule, look upon predaceous animals with abhorrence. 



One more instance of the stratagems of insects in procuring their prey 

 shall conclude this letter. Other examples might be adduced, but the 

 enumeration would be tedious. This, from an order of insects widely 

 differing from that which includes the race of spiders, is perhaps more 

 curious and interesting than any of those hitherto recited. The insect to 

 which I allude, an inhabitant of the south of Europe, is the larva of a 

 species of ant-lion {Myrmeleoii) , so called from its singular manners in 

 this state. It belongs to a genus between the dragon-fly and the Heme- 

 robius. When full grown its length is about half an inch : in shape it has 

 a slight resemblance to a wood-louse, but the outline of the body is more 

 triangular, the anterior part being considerably wider than the posterior: 

 it has six legs, and the mouth is furnished with a forceps consisting of 

 two incurved jaws, which give it a formidable appearance. If we looked 

 only at its external conformation and habits, we should be apt to conclude 

 it one of the most helpless animals in the creation. Its sole food is the 

 juices of other insects, particularly ants, but at the first view it seems 

 impossible that it should ever secure a single meal. Not only is its pace 

 slow, but it can walk in no other direction than backwards ; you may 

 judge, therefore, what would be such a hunter's chance of seizing an active 

 ant. Nor would a stationary posture be more favorable ; for its grim 

 aspect would infallibly impress upon all wanderers the prudence of 

 keeping at a respectful distance. What then is to become of our poor 

 ant-lion ? In its appetite it is a perfect epicure, never, however great may 



