16 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



diving bell or an air pump — yet a spider is in the daily 

 habit of using the one, and, what is more, one exactly 

 similar in principle to ours, but more ingeniously con- 

 trived; by means of which she resides unwetted in the 

 bosom of the water, and procures the necessary sup- 

 plies of air by a much more simple process than our 

 alternating buckets^— and the caterpillar of a little 

 moth knows how to imitate the other, producing a va- 

 cuum, when necessary for its purposes, without any 

 piston besides its own body ^. If Ave think with won- 

 der of the populous cities which have employed the 

 united labours of man for many ages to bring them to 

 their full extent, what shall we say to the white ants, 

 which require only a few months to build a metropolis 

 capable of containing an infinitely greater number of 

 inhabitants than even imperial Nineveh, Babylon, 

 Rome, or Pekin, in all their glory ? 



That insects should tlms have forestalled us in our 

 inventions, ought to urge us to pay a closer attention 

 to them and their ways than we have hitherto done, 

 since it is not at all improbable that the result would 

 be many useful hints for the improvement of our arts 

 and manufactures, and perhaps for some beneficial dis- 

 coveries. TJie painter might thus probably be fur- 

 nished with more brilliant pigments, the dyer with 

 more delicate tints, and the artisan w ith a new and 

 improved set of tools. In this last respect insects de- 

 serve particular notice. All their operations are per- 

 formed w ith admirable precision and dexterity ; and 

 though they do not usually vary the mode, yet that 



" ^Iranca aqnalica, L. " Phalccna Tinea scrralcUa, L. 



