78 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



Were all the eggs produced by insects to be 

 hatched and to bring forth living progeny, we 

 may well ask what would become of mankind ? 

 Unquestionably in a short time their numbers 

 would multiply so excessively as to sweep every 

 green thing off the face of the earth, and man and 

 beast would experience all the horrors of famine. 

 But they are the sport of a thousand accidents, 

 which destroy them and keep down the threatened 

 excess of population in this world of busy crea- 

 tures. And when the young larva has been put 

 forth, this check upon their tendency to over mul- 

 tiplication is still more prominently displayed, as 

 we may presently have occasion to remark. 



