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LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD. 



their instinct to destroy each other ; but this is 

 one of the laws by which the Creator has been 

 pleased to govern the world that he has made, 

 and we cannot doubt that it is benevolent and 

 wise. We see it in action throughout the whole 

 creation. The larger animals serve as food for 

 man ; and, throughout the world, beasts, birds, 

 fishes, and insects live upon each other. It is 

 absolutely necessary that this should be the case. 

 Insects, particularly, increase so rapidly that, if 

 they were not thus destroyed, they would eat 

 up all our vegetables, fill our houses, and render 

 our existence extremely uncomfortable. Pro- 

 vidence has therefore taken this means to keep 

 them within proper bounds. If animals did 

 not thus live upon each other, there would not 

 be a sufficient supply of food for them, and 

 many of them would die of starvation. 



A species of garden spider, which weaves a 

 large, beautiful, wheel-shaped web, commences 

 by spinning a long thread, which she lets float 

 in the air. Having a little stickiness about it, 

 it soon adheres to some neighboring bush or 

 fence ; and when the spider finds, by touching 

 it with her feet, (which, for this purpose, have 



