FOOD OF INSECTS. 4?25 



unjustly applied to them (at least with reference to the 

 mode in which they procure their necessary subsistence) 

 as to the patient sportsman who lays snares for the birds 

 that are to serve for the dinner of his family; and when 

 you hear 



" the fluttering wing 



And shriller sound declare extreme distress," 



you will as little think it the part of true mercy to stretch 

 forth " the helping hospitable hand" to the entrapped fly 

 as to the captive birds. The spider requires his meal as 

 well as the Indian : and, however to our weak capacity 

 the great law of creation "eat or be eaten" may seem 

 cruel or unnecessary, knowing as we do that it is the 

 ordinance of a beneficent Being, who does all things 

 well, and that in fact the sum of happiness is greatly 

 augmented by it, no man, who does not let a morbid 

 sensibility get the better of his judgement, will, on ac- 

 count of their subjection to this rule, look upon preda- 

 ceous animals with abhorrence. 



One more instance of the stratagems of insects in pro- 

 curing their prey shall conclude this letter. Other ex- 

 amples might be adduced, but the enumeration would 

 be tedious. This, from an order of insects widely dif- 

 fering from that which includes the race of spiders, is 

 perhaps more curious and interesting than any of those 

 hitherto recited. The insect to which I allude, an in- 

 habitant of the south of Europe, is the larva of a species 

 of ant-lion (Myrmeleon}^ so called from its singular man- 

 ners in this state. It belongs to a genus between the 

 dragon-fly and the Hemerobius. When full grown its 

 length is about half an inch : in shape it has a slight 



