XIV 



The train of reflections that arise from these considerations, is greater than is con- 

 sistent with the plan I have prescribed to myself in these pages. If the reader is desirous 

 of being further informed of the uses and advantages of natural history, I shall refer him 

 to Stillingfleet's Tracts, taken from the Amoenitates Academicse, published at Upsal ; 

 where he may be acquainted with many curious and interesting particulars, which I have 

 not room to insert here ; my speculations having been confined to one single branch 

 (insects) I shall only mention such observations relative thereto as may be proper for an 

 introduction of this kind. 



Insects may, with great truth, be considered as a rank of beings so wonderful and 

 extraordinary, as to strike with astonishment every observer, if we regard either their 

 structure, powers, or use ; and creatures, who, at the same time that they challenge our 

 regard, loudly proclaim the wisdom, goodness, and omnipotence of their great Creator. 

 If their shape and beauty are capable of attracting our notice, their ways of living are no 

 less adapted for exciting our admiration ; and the more we enquire into their nature and 

 history, the more occasion we shall find for confessing this great truth, " nothing is 

 created in vain." The wondrous manner in which numbers of them pass their lives, 

 during their first states, is unknown to the greater part of mankind. Most people, indeed, 

 know that a Caterpillar produces a Butterfly ; but thousands of persons do not know that 

 a Caterpillar is a Butterfly in disguise, as Dr. Lister ingeniously observes,* and as 

 Swammerdamt proved to the great Duke of Tuscany, by stripping ofi^ the external skins, 

 and displaying the butterfly concealed beneath them. Many persons are ignorant that 

 plants (even of the most poisonous nature) are the beloved and favourite food of some 

 species of insects, and that what is wholesome and nourishing to one, is pernicious and 

 destructive to another. Who would believe that the hard substance of the soundest Oak 

 was capable of being macerated by an insect, and received into its stomach as food ? that 

 it should there yield a proper nutriment for its growth, and that nothing but a substance 

 as hard and firm as that could possibly contribute to the creature's health and increase ? 

 Who would imagine that a colony of Ants, an insect so contemptible in size, considered 

 singly, were capable of making animals, of considerable bulk and strength, retreat from 

 them as from a formidable enemy ? t Who would suspect that numbers of insects are 

 appointed to live, during the greatest part of their lives, within the bodies of other 

 animals, many of whom receive no material injury thereby ; some become frantic and 



* See Goetlai'tius, translated by Dr. Lister. 



+ See Swammerdam's Book of Nature, translated by Dr. Hill. 



t There is a species of auts in Africa, exceedingly numerous, and continually ranging from place to place ; not dwelling in 

 colonies or hills, as we see them in England ; being armed with strong jaws or forceps, and whatever animal they assail in the 

 course of their travels, they generally by means of their numbers overcome ; there being no method of securing themselves, or 

 preserving their lives, but liy running into the water. Tlie blacks, as I have been informed by gentlemen who have lived there, 

 will get out of their way, or quit their habitations, taking their children, &c. with them, and wait till the ants have passed them. 

 So numerous is this host, that a deer, hog, &c. being killed and left on the ground, in one night will have the flesh entirely cleared 

 from the bones, and made a complete skeleton. 



