2 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



the humblest flower of the field, although, to one whose 

 curiosity has not been excited, and whose understanding 

 has, therefore, remained uninformed, it may appear worth- 

 less and contemptible, is valuable to the botanist, not only 

 with regard to its place in the arrangement of this portion 

 of the Creator's works, but as it leads his mind forward 

 to the consideration of those beautiful provisions for the 

 support of vegetable life, which it is the part of the 

 physiologist to study and to admire. 



This train of reasoning is peculiarly applicable to the 

 econoni}^ of insects. They constitute a very large and 

 interesting part of the animal kingdom. They are every- 

 where about us. The spider weaves his curious web in our 

 houses ; the caterpillar constructs his silken cell in our 

 gardens ; the wasp that hovers over our food has a nest not 

 far removed from us, which she has assisted to build with 

 the nicest art ; the beetle that crawls across our path is also 

 an ingenious and laborious mechanic, and has some curious 

 instincts to exhibit to those who will feel an interest in 

 watching his movements ; and the moth that eats into our 

 clothes has something to plead for our pity, for he came, 

 like us, naked into the world, and he has destroyed our 

 garments, not in malice or wantonness, but that he may 

 clothe himself with the same wool which we have stripped 

 from the sheep. An observation of the habits of these little 

 creatures is full of valuable lessons, which the abundance of 

 the examples has no tendency to diminish. The more such 

 observations are multiplied, the more are w^e led forward to 

 the freshest and the most delighful parts of knowledge ; the 

 more do we learn to estimate rightly the extraordinary 

 provisions and most abundant resources of a creative Provi- 

 dence ; and the better do we appreciate our own relations 

 with all the infinite varieties of Nature, and our dependence, 

 in common with the ephemeron that flutters its little hour 

 in the summer sun, upon that Being in whose scheme of 

 existence the humblest as well as the highest creature has 

 its destined purposes. "If you speak of a stone," sajs 

 St. Basil, one of the Fathers of the Church, " if you speak 

 of a fly, a gnat, or a bee, your conversation will be a sort of 



