82 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



the swiftness of the horse or deer, nor the strength of the 

 buffalo, nor the ferocity of the lion or tiger, nor the ar- 

 mour of the rhinoceros, nor the giant bulk or sagacity 

 of the elephant, nor even the authority of imperial man, 

 who boasts himself to be the lord of all, can secure them 

 from becoming a prey to these despised beings. The 

 air affords no protection to the birds, nor the water to 

 the fish; insects pursue them all to their most secret 

 conclaves and strongest citadels, and compel them to 

 submit to their sway. Flora's empire is still more ex- 

 posed to their cruel domination and ravages ; and there is 

 scarcely one of her innumerable subjects, from the oak, 

 the glory of the forest, to the most minute lichen that 

 grows upon its trunk, that is not destined to be the food 

 of these next to nonentities in our estimation. And when 

 life departs from man, the inferior animals, or vegetables, 

 they become universally, sooner or later, the inheritance 

 of insects. 



I shall principally bespeak your attention to the inju- 

 ries in question as they affect ourselves. These may be 

 divided into direct and indirect. By direct injuries I 

 mean every species of attack upon our own persons, and 

 by indirect, such as are made upon our property. To 

 the former of these I shall confine myself in the present 

 letter. 



Insects, as to their direct attacks upon us, may be ar- 

 ranged in three principal classes. Those, namely, which 

 seek to make us their food ; those whose object is to 

 prevent or revenge an injury which they either fear, or 

 have received from us; and those which indeed offer us no 

 violence, but yet incommode us extremely in other ways. 



