LETTER XII. 



ON THE FOOD OF INSECTS. 



INSECTS like other animals draw their food from the 

 vegetable and animal kingdoms ; but a very slight survey 

 will suffice to show that they enjoy a range over^ far 

 more extensive territories. 



To begin with the vegetable kingdom. Of this vast 

 field the larger animals are confined to a comparatively 

 small portion. Of the thousands of plants which clothe 

 the face of the earth, when we have separated the grasses 

 and a trifling number of herbs and shrubs, the rest are 

 disgusting to them, if not absolute poisons. But how 

 infinitely more plenteous is the feast to which Flora in- 

 vites the insect tribes ! From the gigantic banyan which 

 covers acres with its shade, to the tiny fungus scarcely 

 visible to the naked eye, the vegetable creation is one 

 vast banquet at which her insect guests sit down. Per- 

 haps not a single plant exists which does not afford a 

 delicious food to some insect, not excluding even those 

 most nauseous and poisonous to other animals the acrid 

 euphorbias, and the lurid henbane and nightshade. Nor 

 is it a presumptuous supposition that a considerable pro- 

 portion of these vegetables were created expressly for 

 their entertainment and support. The common nettle 

 is of little use either to mankind or the larger animals, 

 but you will not doubt its importance to the class of in- 



