366 INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



It would be in vain for us to attempt to enumerate 

 the various plants, trees, and other things on or in 

 which the larvse or perfect insects should be sought 

 for, as such an enumeration would necessarily be 

 nearly as extensive as the number of known species. 

 A useful little French work, by M. Brez, entitled 

 Flore des Insedophiles, was published about forty 

 years ago, containing a systematic list of plants, 

 with the peculiar insects found on each, and though 

 recent discoveries render it very imperfect, it may 

 still be consulted with advantage. But, with all 

 the information we can procure, the remarks of 

 Addison, in the paper we have quoted, still hold true, 

 that ' Seas and deserts hide millions of animals from 

 our observation ; innumerable artifices and stratagems 

 are acted in the howling wilderness, and in the great 

 deep, that can never come to our knowledge. 

 Besides, that there are infinitely more species of 

 creatures which are not to be seen without, nor 

 indeed with the help of the finest glasses, than of 

 such as are bulky enough for the naked eye to take 

 hold of However, from the consideration of such 

 animals as lie within the compass of our knowledge, 

 we might easily form a conclusion of the rest, that 

 the same variety of wisdom and goodness runs through 

 the whole creation, and puts every creature in a 

 condition to provide for its safety and subsistence, in 

 its proper season.'* 



Looking minutely at all the leaves, flowers, and 

 stems of plants and trees, and prying into every 

 corner where insects may lurk, is one means of dis- 

 covering their haunts, — the only one, indeed, with 

 respect to many species ; but collectors are not sa- 

 tisfied with a process so necessarily slow, and take 

 various means for expediting the capture of numbers, 

 rather than observing the natural movements and 



* ' Spectator,' No. 111. 



