HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 435 



eagerly inquire into the history of the inhabitants, and 

 sig'h over the remains of a race V; hose intellectual ad- 

 vances we should infer with certainty were not inferior 

 to our own. 



Were we by the same test to estimate the sagacity of 

 the diflerent classes of animals, we should beyond all 

 doubt assign the highest place to insects, which in the 

 construction of their habitations leave all the rest far 

 behind. The nests of birds, from the rook's rude as- 

 semblage of sticks to th.e pensile dwellings of the tailor- 

 bird, wonderful as they doubtless are, are indisputably 

 eclipsed by tlie structures formed by many insects; and 

 t!ie regular villages of the beaver, by far the most sa- 

 gacious architect amongst quadrupeds, must yield tlie 

 palm to a wasp's nest. You will think me here guilty 

 of exaggeration, and tluU, blinded by my attachment to 

 a favourite pursuit, I am elevating the little objects, 

 which I wish to recommend to your study, to a rank 

 beyond their just claim. So far, however, am I from 

 being conscious of any such prejudice, that I do not 

 hesitate to go further, and assert that the pyramids of 

 Egypt, as the work of man, are not more wonderful 

 for their size and solidity than are the structures built 

 by some insects. 



To describe the most remarkable of these is my pre- 

 sent object ; and that some method may be observed, i 

 shall in this letter describe the habitations of insects 

 living in a state of solitude, and built each by a single 

 architect ; and in a subsequent one, those of insects 

 living in societies built by the united labours of many. 

 The former class may be conveniently subdivided into 

 habitations built by the parent insect, Jiot iar its own 



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