ORDER 11. 



SUG^^^dHEMIPTERA). 



As no human eye can ever penetrate the spangled heav- 

 ens that roll over us, covered with ruby and sapphire, and 

 the thousand changing tints that dye the firmament — as no 

 created being can ever bring into his scope of vision that 

 ilUmitable space, where the glittering stars unceasingly 

 twinkle and glow, and where, o'erarching all, the Milky 

 Way presents the blended light of billions of shining worlds 

 — so no human mind can ever attain perfection in the 

 knowledge of those countless animated beings which sur- 

 round man in the vast green temple of Nature. The ut- 

 most expansion of the human intellect can comprehend only 

 a small part of the wondrous nature, life, and character of 

 the animated masses around him. The most gifted genius 

 and the highest cultivation, combined with the longest ex- 

 perience, can only bring man to a knowledge of his igno- 

 rance and incompetence, and the burning thirst for more 

 knowledge will only be satiated in adoring what it can not 

 comprehend. True, " immortal longings are within us," but 

 mortal limits surround us on every side, and he who has 

 approached even these the nearest will be abashed at the 

 immensity still before him, and can only bow in humility 

 before the great Creating Soul of the Universe, the all-wise, 

 all-mighty, and all-loving Father — the same incomprehensi- 

 ble Being who has animated the mountainous bony frame of 

 the Elephant, and built with wondrous skill and nicety the 

 delicate structures of those little living, moving atoms we 

 call Bugs ! and not only has breathed into them the breath 

 of life, but, more wonderful still, has provided them with 



