INTRODUCTIOX. 15 



belongs to insects lias regard to the preservation of their 

 species. ^Ye find, accordingly, that as the necessity for 

 this preservation is of the ntmost importance in the 

 economy of nature, so for this especial object man}^ insects, 

 whose offspring, whether in the egg or the larva state, are 

 peculiarly exposed to danger, are endued with an almost 

 miraculous foresight, and with an ingenuity, perseverance, 

 and unconquerable industry, for the purpose of avoiding 

 tliose dangers, which are not to be paralleled even by the 

 most singular efforts of human contrivance. The same 

 ingenuity which is employed for protecting either eggs, or 

 caterpillars and grubs, or pupse and chiysalides, is also 

 exercised by many insects for their own preservation 

 against the changes of temperature to which they are 

 exposed, or against their natural enemies. Many species 

 employ those contrivances during the period of their hyber- 

 nation, or winter sleep. For all these purposes some dig 

 holes in the earth, and form them into cells ; others build 

 nests of extraneous substances, such as bits of wood and 

 leaves ; others roll up leaves into cases, which they close 

 with the most curious art; others build a house of mud, 

 and line it with the cotton of trees, or the petals of the 

 most delicate flowers ; others construct cells, of secretions 

 from their own bodies ; others form cocoons, in which 

 they undergo their transformation ; and others dig subter- 

 raneous galleries, which, in their complexity of arrange- 

 ment, in solidity, and in complete adaptation to their 

 purposes, vie with the cities of civilised man. The con- 

 trivances b}^ which insects effect these objects have been 

 accurately observed and minutely described, by patient 

 and philosophical inquirers, who knew that such employ- 

 ments of the instinct with which each species is endowed 

 by its Creator offered the most valuable and instructive 

 lessons, and opened to them a wide field of the most de- 

 lightful study. The construction of their habitations is 

 certainly among the most remarkable peculiarities in the 

 economy of insects ; and it is of this subject that we pro- 

 pose to treat under the general name, wdiicli is sufficiently 

 applicable to our purpose, of Insect Architecture. 



