12 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



from the moment they conld distinguish insects, to treat 

 them as objects of interest and curiosity, and not to be 

 afraid even of those which wore the most repulsive appear- 

 ance. The little girl, for example, when just beginning 

 to walk alone, encountered one day a large staph^'liuus 

 (^Goerias olens? Stephexs; vulgo, th". deviVs coach-horse), 

 w^hich she fearlessly seized, and did not quit her hold, 

 though the insect grasped one of her lingers in his formi- 

 dable jaws. The mother, who was by, knew enough of the 

 insect to be rather alarmed for the con.^equences, though 

 she prudently concealed her feelings from the child. She 

 did well ; for the insect was not strong enough to break 

 the skin, and the child took no notice of its attempts to 

 bite her finger. A whole series of disagreeable associations 

 with this formidable-looking family of insects was thus 

 averted at the very moment when a different mode of 

 acting on the part of the mother would have produced the 

 contrary effect. For more than two yeaxs after this occur- 

 rence the little girl and her brother assisted in adding 

 numerous specimens to their father's collection, without 

 the parents ever having had cause, from any accident, to 

 repent of their employing themselves in this manner. 

 The sequel of the little girl's history strikingly illustrates 

 the position for which w^e contend. The child happened 

 to be sent to a relative in the country, where she was not 

 long in having carefully instilled into her mind all the 

 usual antipathies against " everything that creepeth on the 

 earth ;" and though she afterwards returned to her paternal 

 home, UQ persuasion or remonstrance could ever again per- 

 suade her to touch a common beetle, much less a staphy- 

 linus, with its tail turned up in a threatening attitude, and 

 its formidable jaws ready extended for attack or defence.* 

 We do not wish that children should be encouraged to 

 expose themselves to danger in their encounters with 

 insects. The}'' should be taught to avoid those few which 

 are really noxious — to admire all — to injure none. 



Tlie various beauty of insects —their glittering colours, 

 their graceful forms —supplies an inexhaustible source of 

 * J. R. in Mag. of Xatm-al History, vol. i., p. 334. 



