LETTER XII. 



ON THE FOOD OF INSECTS. 



Insects like other animals draw i\\Q:\vfood from the 

 vegetable and animal kingdoms, but a very slight sur- 

 vey will suffice to show that they enjoy a range over 

 far more extensive territories. 



To begin with the vegetable kingdom. — Of this vast 

 field the larger animals are confined to a comparatively 

 small portion. Of the thousands of plants which clothe 

 the face of the earth, when we have separated the 

 grasses and a trifling number of herbs and shrubs, the 

 rest are disgusting to them, if not absolute poisons. 

 But how infinitely more plenteous is the feast to which 

 Flora invites the insect tribes ! From the gigantic 

 banyan which covers acres with its shade, to the tiny 

 fungus scarcely visible to the naked eye, the vegetable 

 creation is one vast banquet at which her insect guests 

 sit down. Perhaps n,ot a single plant exists which does 

 not alFord a delicious food to some insect, not excluding 

 even those most nauseous and poisonous to other ani- 

 mals — the a,crid euphorbias, and the lurid henbane and 

 nightshade. Nor is it a presumptuous supposition that 

 a considerable proportion of these vegetables were 

 created expressly for their entertainment and support. 

 The common nettle is of little use either to mankind 

 or the larger animals, but you will not doubt its im- 

 portance to the class of insects, when told that at least 



