INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 19 



of other animals; that their nervous and respiratory sy- 

 stems should be so complex, their secretory and digestive 

 vessels so various and singular, their parts of generation 

 so clearly developed, and that these minims of nature 

 should be endowed with instincts in many cases superior 

 to all our boasted powers of intellect truly these won- 

 ders and miracles declare to every one who attends to 

 the subject, " The hand that made us is divine." We 

 are the work of a Being infinite in power, in wisdom, 

 and in goodness. 



But no religious doctrine is more strongly established 

 by the history of insects than that of a superintending 

 Providence. That of the innumerable species of these 

 beings, many of them beyond conception fragile and ex- 

 posed to dangers and enemies without end, no link 

 should be lost from the chain, but all be maintained in 

 those relative proportions necessary for the general good 

 of the system ; that if one species for a while prepon- 

 derate, and instead of preserving seem to destroy, yet 

 counterchecks should at the same time be provided to 

 reduce it within its due limits ; and further, that the 

 operations of in sects should be so directed and overruled 

 as to effect the purposes for which they were created 

 and never exceed their commission : nothing can furnish 

 a stronger proof than this, that an unseen hand holds 

 the reins, now permitting one to prevail and now an- 

 other, as shall best promote certain wise ends ; and say- 

 ing to each, " Hitherto shalt thou come and no further." 



So complex is this mundane system, and so incessant 

 the conflict between its component parts, an observation 

 which holds good particularly with regard to insects, 

 that if instead of being under such control it were left to 



