INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 15 



many of thera have l3een architects from time imme- 

 morial ; that they have had their houses divided into 

 various apartments, and containing staircases, gigan- 

 tic arches, domes, colonnades, and the like; nay, that 

 even tunnels are excavated by them so immense, com- 

 pared with their own size, as to be twelve times bigger 

 than that projected by Mr. Dodd to be carried under 

 the Thames at Gravesend"*. The modern fine lady, 

 who prides herself on the lustre and beauty of the scar- 

 let hangings w hich adorn the stately w alls of her draw- 

 ing-room, or the carpets that cover its floor, fancying 

 that nothing so rich and splendid was ever seen before, 

 and pitying her vulgar ancestors, who were doomed to 

 unsightly white- wash and rushes, is ignorant all the 

 while, that before she or her ancestors were in exist- 

 ence, and even before the boasted Tyrian dye was dis- 

 covered, a little insect had known how to hang the walls 

 of its cell with tapestry of a scarlet more brilliant than 

 any her rooms can exhibit^, and that others daily 

 weave silken carpets, both in tissue and texture infi- 

 nitely superior to those she so much admires. Other 

 arts have been equally forestalled by these creatures. 

 What vast importance is attached to the invention of 

 paper! For near six thousand years one of our com- 

 monest insects has known how to make and apply it to 

 its purposes'"; and even pasteboard, superior in sub- 

 stance and polish to any we can produce, is manufac- 

 tured by another*^. We imagine that nothing short of 

 human intellect can be equal to the construction of a 



* The white ants. '' MegacIiUe Papaveris, Latr. 



'^ The common wasp. " Polistts nidulans, Latr, 



