DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 83 



that possesses or has possessed animal or vegetable life, 

 is safe from their inroads. Neither the cunning of the 

 fox, nor the swiftness of the horse or deer, nor the 

 strengt'ii of the buffalo, nor tlie ferocity of the lion or 

 tiger, nor the armour of the rhinoceros, nor the giant 

 bulk or sagacity of the elephant, nor even the autho- 

 rity of imperial man, who boasts himself to be the lord 

 of all, can secure them from becoming a prey to these 

 despised beings. The air affords no protection to the 

 birds, nor the water to the fish; insects pursue them all 

 to their most secret conclaves and strongest citadels, 

 and compel them to submit to their sway. Flora's em- 

 pire is still more exposed to their cruel domination and 

 ravages ; and there is scarcely one of her innumerable 

 subjects, from the oak, the glory of the forest^ to the 

 most m incite lichen that grows upon its trunk, tliat is 

 not destined to be the food of these next to nonentities 

 in our estimation. And when life departs from man, 

 the inferior animals, or vegetables, they become uni- 

 versally, sooner or later, the inheritance of insects. 



I shall principally bespeak your attention to the in- 

 juries in question as they affect ourselves. These may 

 be divided into direct and indirect. By direct injuries 

 I mean every species of attack upon our own persons, 

 and by indirect, such as are made upon our property. 

 To the former of these I shall confine myself in the 

 present letter. 



Insects, as to their direct attacks upon us, may be 

 arranged in three principal classes. Those, namely, 

 which seek to make us their food; those whose object 



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