18 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



as female ornaments ; if we revere parental affection — 

 of all these, and many more virtues, insects in their va- 

 rious instincts exhibit several striking examples, as you 

 will see in the course of our correspondence. 



With respect to religious instruction insects are far 

 from unprofitable ; indeed in this view Entomology 

 seems to possess peculiar advantages above every other 

 branch of Natural History. In the larger animals, 

 though we admire the consummate art and wisdom ma- 

 nifested in their structure, and adore that Almighty 

 power and goodness which by a wonderful machinery, 

 kept in motion by the constant action and re-action of 

 the great positive and negative powers of Nature, main- 

 tains in full force the circulations necessary to life, per- 

 ception, and enjoyment ; yet as there seems no dispro- 

 portion between the objects and tlie different operations 

 that are going on in them, and we see that they afford 

 sufficient space for the play of their systems, we do not 

 experience the same sensations of wonder and astonish- 

 ment that strike us when we behold similar operations 

 carried on without interruption in animals scarcely vi- 

 sible to the naked eye. That creatures, which in the 

 scale of being are next to non-entities, should be ela- 

 borated with so much art and contrivance, have such a 

 number of parts both internal and external, all so highly 

 finished and each so nicely calculated to answer its end ; 

 that they should include in this evanescent form such a 

 variety of organs of perception and instruments of mo- 

 tion, exceeding in number and peculiarity of structure 

 those of other animals ; that their nervous and respi- 

 ratory systems should be so complex, their secretory 

 and digestive vessels so various and singular, their parts 



