KIRBY AND SPENCE, THE ENTOMOLOGISTS. y 



that in proportion to the exact material dimensions of an object, its 

 value is to be ascertained ; or if the study of the history of the larger 

 animals could be properly followed out by despising and neglecting the 

 smaller ; or if an entomologist were merely a collector of specimens, 

 without ever being led to reason upon and arrive at higher truths than 

 those which go no farther than the satisfaction of curiosity ; or, lastly, 

 if it were consistent with experience and every-day observation that 

 naturalists were unintellectual, unimaginative beings, or men devoid 

 of practical wisdom. We might mention many great names in the 

 higher walks of poetry and eloquence, or that were most sagacious in 

 moral and political philosophy, who were enthusiastic naturalists. But 

 a better illustration need not be given than that of Mr, Kirby himself, 

 who has lately, in his celebrated Bridgewater Treatise, presented to the 

 learned and the religious world two volumes " On the Power, Wisdom, 

 and Goodness of God as manifested in the Creation of Animals, and in 

 their History, Habits, and Instincts," Mr Spence is also well known 

 as the author of certain " Tracts on Political Economy," works of very 

 considerable merit, and at least evincing a mind and a taste which 

 could grapple with such thorny and intricate questions as those con- 

 nected with commerce, agriculture, and the corn laws, as freely as 

 with moths and butterflies. The truth is, that it is too late in the day 

 for any one* now to pronounce any disparaging opinion with regard 

 to natural science, no matter what branch be instanced ; and from 

 what has already been said, entomology, as treated by our authors, 

 must not be quoted as an exception ; for by all their labour and minute- 

 ness, they guide the attention of their readers " from Nature up to 

 Nature's God." 



But to glance at some of the real and practical advantages which 

 the study of entomology confers on society, let us consider the injuries 

 caused by various insects to the valuable products of the earth, or of 

 the land. Many insects, in the state of larvae, or maggots, destroy 

 wheat, and that in such quantities as to cause serious loss in agricul- 

 ture, amounting to many hundred acres in some cases. In America, 

 the Hessian fly is one of the most formidable enemies to vegetation 

 that can be named. On one occasion it proceeded from Long-Island 

 inland, at the rate of 15 or 20 miles a year, till at last it extended over 

 a space of 200 miles. Neither mountains nor rivers stopped this tribe ; 

 they crossed the Delaware like a cloud, and even filled the houses of 

 the inhabitants, injuring or destroying whatever they fastened on, to 

 an incalculable amount. Indeed, every sort of grain and vegetable 

 growth have their appropriate enemies, or peculiar admirers, if you 

 will, among the insect tribes ; and a more serviceable or worthy study 

 can surely not be set about, than that which tends to guide to a remedy 

 for these evils. 



To instance one other insect, and its ravages, let us listen to what 

 is said of the ant of Barbadoes, the formica saccharivora. This enemy 

 appeared, we learn, above eighty years ago, in such infinite hosts in the 

 island of Granada, as to put a stop to the cultivation of the sugar cane. 

 A reward of 20,000/. was off'ered to any one who should discover an 

 eff"ectual mode of destroying the vermin. Their numbers were incrc- 



