40 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



to tlie wax of the ears, and in form of i^ronules 

 vvliich are even externally apparent*. 



We are accustomed to consider the form of eg-gs 

 so nearly regular, that the epithet '' eg'g shaped" is 

 frequently aj)pl;ed to other things, and is well under- 

 stood ; but the eggs of insects, though most com- 

 monly round, are seldom, like those of birds, 

 smaller at one end than at the other, while they often 

 exhibit forms never seen in the eggs of birds, — such 

 as cylindrie, flat, depressed, compressed, prismatic, 

 angular, square, boat-shaped fi &c. These varieties 

 of form are justly referred by Kirby and Spence to 

 the " manifold wisdom" {7ro\v7roiKi\oQ co^na)]: of the 

 Creator ; but we have some hesitation in admit- 

 ting their limitation of this to his " will to vary 

 forms, and so to glorify his wisdom and power in- 

 dependently of other considerations §," and think it 

 would be more truly philosophic to confess our igno- 

 rance where we cannot explain what is above our com- 

 prehension. Paley, indeed, says, such facts " might 

 ijiduce us to believe that variety itself, distinct from 

 every other consideration, was a motive in the mind 

 of the Creator, or with the agents of his will ;" but he 

 immediately adds, "to this great variety in organized 

 life the Deity has given, or perhaps there arises out 

 of it, a corresponding variety of animal appetites, 

 and did all animals covet the same element, retreat, 

 or food, it is evident how much fewer could be sup- 

 plied and accommodated than what at present live 

 conveniently together and find a plentiful subsist- 

 ence ||." The latter remark, we think, completely 

 destroys the former, and it wi'U lead us to what 



* J. R. 



t Dumeril, Consider. Generales, p. 49; and Insect Architec- 

 ture, p. 19. 



X Kphes. iii. 10. ^ Introd., ill. p. 95. 



II N Plural Theology, p. 345, 14th ed. 



