NYMPH ALID;E. — HIPPARCHIA. 71 



views of the lover of nature. To refer to objects more legitimately 

 within the scope of the entomolooist's observation, let him examine 

 the organization of the four in(lit>:enous species of true Vanessa, and 

 it will be found as exactly correspondent in all as in any kindred 

 species throughout the creation, though their hal)it8 cannot 'te said 

 to be similar ; two of them, for example, Va. lo and Urticw, ovi- 

 positing upon nettles, upon which their larvffi feed gregariously ; 

 whereas the other two, Va. Polychloros and Antiopa, oviposit 

 respectively upon elms and willows, which aflTord ]>abulum to their 

 progeny. V. Urticte has two or more broods in the year, the other 

 species one IirooJ. only, which arrives at perfection towards the end 

 of summer ; (lie last-named insect and lo appear with regularity, 

 while the other two (Antiopa especially) occur with irregularity; 

 the only points in which all agree being in their powerful flight, 

 and the faculty they possess of hyl ternating. 



The reverend author of the Introduction to Entomology says, 

 " the knowledge of species is indeed indispensable for the registry 

 of facts and other practical purposes*;" and we learn from the 

 highest authority that when the Almighty Creator rested from 

 His labours, He pronounced every thing which He had created to 

 be very good. Are we, therefore, to assume that only a certain 

 portion of His works is xcorthy of the attention of mankind.'' Are 

 not the various species of Monas individually of as much import- 

 ance in the economy of nature, as the mighty Leviathan of the 

 deep ? And is the presumed limit of the animal creation, the purely 

 microscopic Monas Tcrmo (of which some recent speculative phy- 

 siologists attempt to «lemonstrate the divine structure of man, as 

 well as that of all other animated beings, is composed), to be d.e- 

 spised on account of its apparent insignificance ? I conceive that 

 no unprejudiced person can deny the first, nor affirm the h;st, as- 

 sumption ; and consequently it follows, that all created !)eings are 

 objects of our attention. But where is the mind that is cai^acious 

 enough to comprehend the attriluitcs of all the various species of 

 the animal creation ? — amounting probably to the prodigious mnnber 



formity to their generic structure, accompanied with detailed figures and tlescrip- 

 tions of the latter, whose accuracy will enable the veriest tyro to ascertain the 

 generic identity of the honey-bee ; but has it contributed to increase tlie cot- 

 tager's store of honey ? 

 * Kirby and Spcnce. Introduction to Entomology, v. iv. p. o\i. 



