107 

 the frequent opportunities I have had of observing their mode of life and action, together 

 with the many singular circumstances observable in both, being motives for its publication 

 too powerful to be resisted. 



" It is not easv to determine whether they should be ranked among the water insects, 

 or those of the land, nor shall I attempt here to ascertain it ; my present business being 

 only to relate the several circumstances attending them during their respective states in 

 which they are passing from the egg to the complete animal : and although these observa- 

 tions have been confined to our English ones, yet they so exactly agree and coincide with 

 those of forcigii countries, (as mv correspondents have assured me), that their nature and 

 behaviour appear to be just the same ; so that what is observable in ours, is at the same 

 time applicable to the whole genus wherever found. 



" If we take a cursory view of the different ranks of animals that inhabit our globe, we 

 shall hardly find one that can excite our wonder and astonishment more than this genus ; 

 nor is it from that general ignorance of the insect world, that reigTis so strongly in these 

 kingdoms, that I am emboldened to say this ; but if we reflect that the beasts, birds, and 

 reptiles are furnished with powers for living only in the air, and that even the amphibious 

 tribes can perform the office of respiration only in that element : if we also consider that 

 fishes, on the contrary, are unable to respire but in water, and when deprived of that must 

 certainly perish, we cannot but conclude that all these animals are most wisely fitted with 

 means and faculties for filling up the respective orders and ranks wherein they are placed. 

 But let us cast our eyes on the subjects I am about to describe, and there behold a tribe 

 of beings, who, as soon as they leave their eggs, subsist for a certain number of months, 

 (I had almost said years), creeping and swimming in the liquid element ; are there invested 

 with organs and powers for existing and weathering out the utmost severity and intem- 

 perance of the winter ; that afterwards as the spring and summer advances, and the period 

 ari-ives when they are to appear in other forms, in the space of about half an hour those 

 very organs and powers that before enabled them to live under water should be so entirely 

 altered, the very natures and abilities of the creatures so changed as to permit them to 

 quit their former element and place of residence, insomuch that all the remaining part of 

 their lives is spent in the open air, furnished with vnngs, and flying about in the full glee 

 of wanton liberty ; that in a very few weeks after, having performed the business of 

 generation, the same animals should die of mere old age, with their wings quite ragged 

 and worn out, their strength exhausted, and all the powers of their bodies lost by a total 

 imbecility and weakness, which but a little before enabled them to transport themselves 

 through the air with the swiftness of a bird. If, I say, we reflect on all these circum- 

 stances, we cannot but allow them to be objects of a very extraordinary nature, and well 

 adapted for leading the mind to the contemplation of their supreme Author, who has 

 thought proper to exhibit to us these kind of insects, thus differing from almost all the 

 animals in the creation. 



P2 



