212 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



wisdom has not been exercised upon beings which 

 man despises, or even abhors, and which fall 

 daily by thousands under foot, crushed and for- 

 gotten except by a few. Let us search the green 

 lanes and hedge-rows more assiduously, let us 

 poke even into the dirtiest corners, let us examine 

 well the leaves and branches in our gardens, the * 

 depths of the purling brook, the cavities of the 

 aged trunks, and the cracks in the deep-furrowed 

 bark, let us look narrowly upon the cabbages and 

 nettles, as well as upon the rose-bush and myrtle, 

 let no place, in a word, be beneath our scrutiny, no 

 object beneath our notice ; let us do this, and we 

 shall not need to sigh after foreign scenes, or the 

 majestic wonders of nature, for we shall have a 

 microcosm, a world of wonders, in a table drawer, 

 and an exhaustless theme of admiration in the 

 contents of a tumbler of water. 



