GENERATION OF INSECTS. 23 



them back to the side of a very ]i\rg;e pond, which, 

 in spawning time, he was informed, swarmed with 

 countless numbers of frogs, lie naturally concluded, 

 therefore, that, instead of having- been precipitated 

 from the clouds, they had been bred in the pond, from 

 which they had been invited a short time before, by a 

 refreshing shower, to go in quest of food *. Their 

 g-reat numbers will appear less marvellous, when we 

 consider that a single frog spawns, as De Mont- 

 beillard informs us, about 1300 eggsf. Were it not, 

 indeed, for their numerous enemies, and their not 

 being tit to propagate till they are three years old, 

 the country would soon be overrim with these 

 reptiles. We have more than once seen a similar 

 legion of hair-worms {Gordii aquaiici, Linn.) in a 

 garden at Lee, in Kent, every plant and spot of 

 ground literally swarming with them. Their num- 

 bers, however, were easily accounted for, as a stream 

 at the bottom of the garden abounds with them, and, 

 like frogs, they appear to be amphibious |. 



The errors of theory, as well as the mistakes ot 

 observers, swayed (unconsciously perhaps) by the 

 influence of their theoretical opinions, may all be 

 traced, we think, to the propensity of human nature 

 to discover resemblances in things, which are after- 

 wards magnified into close affinity, or even into 

 identity. We are indebted to one of our best living 

 entomologists, Mr. W. Mac Leay, for clearly point- 

 ing out the broad distinction between analogy and 

 affinity^. The supposed floating of the eggs of insects 

 in the air thus appears to have originated in drawing 

 an analogy from the seeds of plants ; though, from 

 the facts we have stated, so far from there being any 



* Ray's Wisdom of God in the Creation, p. 156. 

 ■{■ Diet. Classique d'Hist. Nat., vii,, p. 495. % J. R. 



§ Horae Kntomologicae, or Essays on Annulose Animals, 8vo, 

 London, 1819-21. 



