S6S INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



It would be in vain for us to attempt to enumerate 

 Ihe various plants, trees, and other thins^s on or in 

 which the larva) or perfect insects should be sought 

 for, as such an enumeration would necessarily be 

 nearly as extensive as the number of known species. 

 A useful little French work, by M. Brez, entitled 

 JF/ore des Insectophiles^ was published about forty 

 years ago, containing a systematic list of plants, 

 with the peculiar insects found on each, and though 

 recent discoveries render it very imperfect, it may 

 still be consulted with advantage. But, with all 

 the information we can procure, the remarks of 

 Addison, in the paper we have quoted, still hold true, 

 that " Seas and deserts hide millions of animals 

 from our observation ; innumerable artifices and 

 stratagems are acted in the howling wilderness, and 

 in the great deep, that can never come to our know- 

 ledge. Besides, that there are infinitely more spe- 

 cies of creatures which are not to be seen without, 

 nor indeed with the help of the finest glasses, than 

 x)f such as are bulky enough for the naked eye to 

 take hold of However, from the consideration of 

 such animals as lie within the compass of our know- 

 ledge, we might easily form a conclusion of the rest, 

 that the same variety of wisdom and goodness runs 

 through the whole creation, and puts every creature 

 in a condition to provide for its safety and sub- 

 sistence, in its proper season*." 



Looking minutely at all the leaves, flowers, and 

 stems of plants and trees, and prying into every 

 corner where insects may lurk, is one means of dis- 

 covering their haunts, — the only one, indeed, with 

 respect to many species ; but collectors are not sa- 

 tisfied with a process so necessarily slow, and take 

 various means for expediting the capture of numbers, 

 rather than observing the natural movements and 

 * ' Spectator,' No. Ill, 



