AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 359 



what period her eggs will be hatched into grubs, and 

 how long the provision she has laid up will suffice for 

 their support ! What an extent of judgement, thus in the 

 midst of various other occupations to know the precise 

 day when a repetition of her cares will be required ! 

 What an accuracy of memory, to recollect with such 

 precision the entrance to her cell, which the most acute 

 eye could not discover ; and without compass or direc- 

 tion unerringly to fly to it, often from a great distance 

 and after the most intricate and varied wanderings ! If 

 we refer the whole to instinct, and to instinct doubtless 

 it must in the main if not wholly be referred, our admi- 

 ration is not lessened. Instinct, when simple and directed 

 to one object, is less astonishing; but such a compli- 

 cation of instincts, applied to actions so varied and dissi- 

 milar, is beyond our conception. We can but wonder 

 and adore ! 



We are indebted to De Geer for the history of a field- 

 bug (Pentatoma grisea), a species found in this country, 

 which shows marks of affection for her young such as I 

 trust will lead you, notwithstanding any repugnant asso- 

 ciation that the name may call up, to search upon the 

 birch tree, which it inhabits, for so interesting an insect. 

 The family of this field-bug consists of thirty or forty 

 young ones, which she conducts as a hen does her 

 chickens. She never leaves them ; and as soon as she 

 begins to move, all the little ones closely follow, and 

 whenever she stops assemble in a cluster round her. De 

 Geer having had occasion to cut a branch of birch peo- 

 pled with one of those families, the mother showed every 

 symptom of excessive uneasiness. In other circumstances 

 such an alarm would have caused her immediate flight ; 



