APOLOGY FOR THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 87 



to a great variety of purposes, is manufactured by the bee, 

 whose history has ah*eady been related. Honey is another 

 production of the same industrious insect; and although 

 much of its value has departed since the introduction of 

 sugar, it is still an article of luxury. Mead, a wholesome 

 and delicious beverage, for which this country has long 

 been famous, and the manufacture of which is still carried 

 on with great skill and success in some of our counties, is 

 made from honey. Locusts, as an article of food, are spo- 

 ken of in Scripture. The inhabitants of Fez, Morocco, and 

 adjacent countries, eat them at this day; and the Hotten- 

 tots hail the coming of the locusts with delight, and are said 

 to fatten on them. The fructijication of many plants is 

 entirely accomplished by different species of bees, which 

 convey the pollen from plant to plant, and also from the 

 stamens to the stigma of the same plant. As food for 

 birds and fishes, insects may be considered by far the prin- 

 cipal article ; there is scarcely a bird or a fish but devours 

 them with avidity. 



The turnip-Jly has the power of destroying almost the 

 whole crop of that excellent and useful vegetable, and as 

 yet no certain cure for its ravages is known. Rusticus, an 

 author before quoted, has ascertained that salting the seed 

 acts in a good degree as a preventive. The hop-Jly has 

 the power of destroying the produce of the hop in the 

 most remarkable manner : the crop appears exclusively 

 dependant on the scarcity or abundance of this insect. 

 The locust, by causing pestilence or famine, has in all ages 

 possessed the power of sweeping millions of human beings 

 from the face of the earth. The mosquito, by its unceasing 

 attacks, is capable of rendering life an almost insupporta- 

 ble burden : gnats and other flies, in hot countries, have an 

 influence over us scarcely less fearful. 



Economy of space and materials in architecture is taught 



