THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 139 



peds and reptiles ; many of them furnisli tlie best bait to tlic angler. 

 In some countries they are eaten and accounted great delicacies, and 

 we who delight in lobste>rs, terrapins, and bullfrogs, should not be 

 squeamish about the Arabs eating locusts, or some people in South 

 America crunching a centipede with appetite, or making a savory 

 soup of the grubs of beetles. 



Many years ago, the doctors made extensive use of insects in their 

 practice. Powder of silkworms was given for vertigo ; millepedes for 

 the jaundice ; fly-water for ear-ache ; five gnats were considered a dose 

 of excellent physic ; lady-birds for cholic and measles ; ants were in- 

 comparable for leprosy and deafness. A learned Italian professor 

 assures us that a finger once imbued with the juices of a certain beetle 

 will retain its power of curing tooth-ache for a year ! 



But it is true that, in Cayenne, one insect produces a lint which is 

 an excellent styptic, and gum ammonia oozes out of a plant from an. 

 incision made by another. The benefits and uses of the Cantharis, a 

 Spanish fly, the cochineal, the gall-flies, the bee, silkworms, &c., &c., 

 are well known. 



Many interesting illustrations were given of the affection which 

 many insects have for their young. The selection of the appropriate 

 place for the deposite of their eggs by the butterfly, the dragonfly, 

 the horsefly, the wasp, &c.; the gathering of proper food for the 

 larva3 ; their protection against natural enemies and the weather ; 

 these, and other curious facts under this head^ were dwelt on at some 

 length. 



The phenomena presented by insect hahitaticns were exhibited very 

 lucidly. The lecturer stated and proved, that the most ingeniously 

 constructed hut of the beaver, and the most artfully contrived nest of 

 the bird, are far surpassed by the habitations of insects. Here he 

 discoursed on the cells of wasps, and particularly of the honey-bee — 

 and these latter were illustrated by large drawings — showing that the 

 bee in the construction of its nest solves a problem in mathematics of 

 the highest order. He related many interesting phenomena, which 

 seemed almost incredible to those who had never paid special atten- 

 tion to this subject. He stated that Dr. Paley was mistaken in as- 

 serting "'that the human animal is the only one which is naked, and 

 the only one which can clothe itself," by showing that caterpillars of 

 various moths clothe themselves comfortably and beautifully. Not 

 only do larvte which live on land construct coverings for themselves, 

 but some which spend that period of their existence in the water. 

 They make their coats of sand, grass, and sometimes of minute shells. 

 The common web, or habitation of the spider, is familiar to all ; but 

 there is one species which excavates a gallery upwards of two feet in 

 length and half an inch broad. It is furnished at the orifice with a 

 curiously constructed door, actually turning on a hinge of silk, and, 

 as if acquainted with the laws of gravity, she invariably fixes the 

 hinge at the highest side of the opening, so that the door when pushed 

 up shuts again by its own weight. The habitation of the water-spi- 

 dei' is built under water, and is formed, in fact, of air. She first con- 

 structs a frame-work of her chamber attached to the leaves of aquatic 

 plants ; she then covers it with a sort of varnish elaborated from her 



