12 LIFE IN THK INSECT WORLD. 



well laugh at the pride we take in our bright 

 carpets and richly colored dresses, and spread 

 out before us its own little wings, far more beau- 

 tifully painted than them all. 



Some insects are of the brightest green, some 

 look like gold, others like silver, some are cover- 

 ed with the finest and most silky hair, and you 

 probably know that all the furze on the wing 

 of a butterfly is found, when examined through 

 a microscope, to be composed of the most deli- 

 cate feathery scales. 



Their forms, too, are as various, and often as 

 beautiful, as their colors; and although upwards 

 of one hundred and fifty thousand different spe- 

 cies or kinds of insects have been discovered, 

 and many of them are so small that they cannot 

 be seen without the aid of a microscope, yet 

 each is perfect in all its parts, and admirably 

 calculated for the station it is to occupy, and the 

 duties it has to perform, in the creation. 



Their singular habits, too, the many curious 

 contrivances they resort to for the promotion of 

 their own comfort and safety, and their provision 

 for the wants of their young, are still more cal- 

 culated to fill us with wonder and admiration. 



