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LETTER XVI. 



SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 

 IMPERFECT SOCIETIES. 



I SEE already, and I see it with pleasure, that you will not content your- 

 self with being a mere collector of insects. To possess a cabinet well 

 stored, and to know by what name each described individual which it con- 

 tains should be distinguished, will not satisfy the love already grown strong 

 in you for my favorite pursuit ; and you now anticipate with a laudable 

 eagerness, the discoveries which you may make respecting the history and 

 economy of this most interesting department of the works of our Creator. 

 I hail with joy this intention to emulate the bright example, and to tread 

 in the hallowed steps of Swammerdam, Leeuwenhoek, Redi, Malpighi, 

 Vallisnieri, Ray, Lister, Reaumur, De Geer, Lyonnet, Bonnet, the Hubers, 

 &-C. ; and I am confident that a man of your abilities, discernment, and 

 observation will contribute, in no small degree, to the treasures already 

 poured into the general fund by these your illustrious predecessors. 



I feel not a little flattered when you inform me that the details con- 

 tained in my late letters relative to this subject have stimulated you to 

 this noble resolution. Assure yourself I shall think no labor lost which 

 has been the means of winning over to the science I love the exertions of 

 a mind like yours. 



But if the facts already related, however extraordinary, have had power 

 to produce such an effect upon you, what will be the momentum, when I 

 lay before you more at large, as I next purpose, the more striking particu- 

 lars of the proceedings of insects in society, and show the almost incredibly 

 wonderful results of the combined instincts and labors of these minute 

 beings ? In comparison with these, all that is the fruit of solitary efforts, 

 though some of them sufficiently marvelous, appear trifling and insig- 

 nificant : as the works of man himself, when they are the product 

 of the industry and genius of only one, or a few individuals, though 

 they might be regarded with admiration by a being who had seen 

 nothing similar before, yet when contrasted with those to which the union 

 of these qualities in large bodies has given birth, sink into nothing, and 

 seem unworthy of attention. Who would think a hut extraordinary by 

 the side of a stately palace, or a small village when in the vicinity of a 

 populous and magnificent city ? 



Insects in society may be viewed under several lights, and their associa- 

 tions are for various purposes and of different durations. 



There are societies the object of which is mutual defence ; while that 

 of others is the propagation of the species. Some form marauding parties, 

 and associate for prey and plunder; others meet, as it should seem, under 

 certain circumstances, merely for the sake of company ; again, others are 

 brought together by accidental causes, and disperse when these cease to 

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