JULY. 267 



Prionus coriarius. It is a fact generally ob- 

 served that insects multiply extremely in pe- 

 culiar habitats. Providence having assigned to 

 each animal its peculiar offices and instincts, 

 seems to have ordained that in situations where 

 the agency of numbers is required, the increase 

 of the tribe should keep pace with the in- 

 creasing necessity for its existence. In the 

 northern regions, where vegetation is scant, 

 and where the evils arising from fallen timber 

 is scarcely felt, the species of Cerambicidae, or 

 Wood-dispersers, (to which tribe the Prionus 

 coriarius is referred,) are few, and the indi- 

 viduals of each species rarely met with. In 

 the temperate zone, where vegetation is more 

 abundant, the insects of this class increase in 

 proportion; and in tropical climates, where 

 vegetation is luxuriant, and where tornado and 

 storms concur with other causes to desolate 

 large tracts of country, and fell the trees of the 

 forest, there, to prevent the evils which the 

 progress of vegetation would sustain from the 

 fallen trees, the benignity of Providence has 

 caused the Cerambicidse to abound : myriads 

 of large and various species unite to remove 

 the evil. The enormous trees of the tropics 



