BIRDS AND INSECTS. 317 



Insects. 



'The more I think of it, I find this conclusion more impressed upon 

 me, that the greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see 

 something. 



Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands 

 can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and 

 religion all in one." John Ruskin. 



Insects constitute one of the most interesting branches in the 

 animal world. The number of distinct species is probably greater 

 than the total number of all the other species of animals com- 

 bined. 



Among insects are found some of the most remarkable ex- 

 emplifications of the guidance of instinct as in the ant, the bee, 

 and other species. 



Among insects as among other branches of animals, there 

 are the foes and friends of man. The real purpose of every 

 species, will probably never be revealed. An estimate of the 

 sum total of benefits derived cannot even be conjectured. 



The further we go into the study of insects the more we 

 learn of their uses in the great plan of nature. 



The early botanists believed that insects were useful to 

 ilowers. Sprengel discovered that insects fertilize flowers. The 

 great Darwin discovered the uses of insects in cross-fertilization 

 of flowers. 



Everything in nature is undergoing a process of change. It 

 is evolution. For millions of years the flower has been adapting 

 itself to insect life and insect life has been adapting itself to 

 inflorescence. 



The form, the hue, the fragrance, the nectar of the flower 

 have all become adapted to the wooing of some specie or species 

 of insect guests. The great Angraecum orchid of Madagascar 

 with its slender nectar eleven inches in length was found to 

 have its insect visitor a huge sphinx-moth with a tongue eleven 

 inches long. When the attention of Darwin was called to this 

 orchid with a long nectary, he said it was conclusive evidence 

 of the existence of a moth with a tongue as long as the nectary 



