164 London Insects. 



the work of the little Coral Polyps, who are respon- 

 sible too, in all probability, for the present varied 

 coast-lines of large tracts of continents. There are 

 families of plants, some of rare beauty, which we are 

 told would disappear entirely but for the busy Bees 

 which, forcing themselves in and out in search of the 

 honey baits placed there to tempt them, carry the 

 fertilising dust to the seed-vessels, which must other- 

 wise have dropped useless. 



But the chapters which are to tell of the influence 

 of insects on social and political history have yet to 

 be written. With justice done to the subject they 

 should be very interesting. Flies, Lice, and Locusts 

 did, as we all know, a good deal to help Moses in his 

 struggle for Hebrew independence ; and Wasps and 

 Hornets, when Jordan had been crossed, fought on 

 the side of Israel, " forerunners of the host." Pyrrhus, 

 at the height of his successes, raised a siege because 

 he could not stand the Mosquitos, which made his 

 camp unbearable. 



" If * ifs ' and ' ans ' were pots and pans, 

 There'd be no work for tinker's hands." 



A great many things might have been told dif- 

 ferently in Roman history though it is not easy just 

 now to say exactly how if Pyrrhus and his Greeks 

 had added to their more brilliant qualities the patient 

 obstinacy which made Sir Henry Lawrence's band 

 hold out in Lucknow till Havelock came, in spite 

 even of " infinite torture of flies." 



Difference of race may be at the bottom of much 

 that is to be seen north of the Tweed and across 

 St. George's Channel ; but making all allowance for 

 this, the legacies of conquest will not be lost sight of 

 altogether. And Scotland was once, as completely 



