OBjrXTIONS ANSWERED. S7 



temerity, pointed out the grub that it contained, and 

 thus sent him back with a light heart, relieved from 

 all his apprehensions^. 



Every one has heard of the death-watch, and knows 

 of the superstitious notion of the vulgar, that in what- 

 ever house its drum is heard one of the family will 

 die before the end of the year. These terrors, in par- 

 ticular instances, where they lay hold of weak minds, 

 especially of sick or hypochondriac persons, may cause 

 the event that is supposed to be prognosticated. A 

 small degree of entomological knowledge would re- 

 lieve them from all their fears, and teach them that 

 this heart-sickening tick is caused by a small beetle 

 {Anohium tessellalum, F.) which lives in timber, and 

 is merely a call to its companion. Attention to Ento- 

 mology may therefore be rendered very useful in this 

 view, since nothing certainly is more desirable than to 

 deliver the human mind from the dominion of super- 

 stitious fears, and false notions, which having con- 

 siderable influence on the conduct of mankind are the 

 cause of no small portion of evil. 



But as v.e cannot well guard against the injuries 

 produced by insects, or remove the evil, whetlier real 

 or arising from misconceptions respecting them, which 

 they occasion, unless we have some knowledge of 

 them ; so neither w ithout such knowledge can we ap- 

 ply them, w hen beneficial, to our use. Now it is ex- 

 tremely probable that they might be made vastly more 

 subservient to our advantage and profit than at pre- 

 sent, if we were better acquainted w ith them. It is 

 the remark of an author, who himself is no entomolo- 



* ReauiQ. vi. 9&-100. Kirby Moiu Jp. Aug. i. 157-8. 



