423 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



lection of materials ; but yet possessing for every 

 observer a still unopened mine of knowledge, even in 

 the very commonest species. Volumes have been 

 written upon the bee ; but still how many wonders of 

 the hive remain unexplained ? The domestic fly 

 swarms in every apartment, and yet how many points 

 in its economy are uninvestigated ? And, which is 

 not less peculiar and interesting to the student of the 

 insect world, he may pursue his observations without 

 pain to the objects of his research ; he may watch 

 them at their occupations, observe their manoeuvres, 

 and contemplate the beautiful harmony which exists 

 between their organisation and their economy, and 

 leave the contemplation " a wiser and a better man." 

 Here he will find life in its widest extent ; sensa- 

 tion and motion are here bestowed to a degree 





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Muscular system of the caterpillar of the goat moth (Cossus 

 ligniperdu). 



even far exceeding that of the higher animals ; 

 and it is this which constitutes one of the greatest 

 charms of the pursuits of the entomologist. The 

 botanist may boast of the splendour of his flowers, 

 the conchologist may glory in the beauty of his 

 shells, and the ornithologist in the interesting econ- 

 omy of his birds ; but the entomologist can do more, 

 since the objects of his pursuit are not less splendid 

 than flowers. Indeed, what flower can vie with the 

 brilliant butterflies of South America ? Neither are 

 they less beautiful than the most beautiful shells 

 for what shells can vie with the splendid coatings of 

 the Chrysididce, or with the extraordinary forms of the 

 Dynastes ? Neither are they inferior to the feathered 

 tribes in their varied economy, whilst the' very cir- 

 cumstance of their infinite numbers and ubiquity 

 renders their observation a matter of comparative 

 facility. If we notice them with reference to the 

 latter peculiarity (that of their varied economy), we 

 find them occupied in works as varied as those of 

 the most consummate mechanic and artist. Here we 

 find one suspending itself by a series of mechanical 

 motions, by one extremity of the body, whilst others 

 keep themselves from falling during their state of 

 inactivity, by passing a cord round the middle of the 

 body ; here some construct, for the like purpose, a 

 bed of the finest silk, whilst others, with the greatest 

 ingenuity, form their_domicile of other and very differ- 



ent materials, differing in the different species, whose 

 economy is consequently different. Some unite to form 

 a common lodging, whilst others separately incase 

 themselves in a coat of wool as soon as they are born. 

 In many instances the patient care of the female in 

 the construction of her nest, and in the preservation 

 of her offspring, is not surpassed by the highest 

 amongst animals. In all these things, and in the in- 

 finite diversity of means exhibited by insects tending 

 to one common end the preservation of each the 

 supremacy and wisdom of a Divine Intelligence, creat- 

 ing all things preserving all things directing all 

 things are so pre-eminently conspicuous, that it is 

 impossible, even whilst paying but the slightest degree 

 of attention to such things, to overlook the sublimity of 

 the science.nor not to be filled with the most profound 

 respect for the all-powerful wisdom and goodness of the 

 Creator, and, even in the midst of the most profound 

 grief, it is impossible to contemplate these wonders 

 of the creation without an assuagement of our pain. 



If, moreover, we would institute a comparison 

 between the objects of our present contemplation, 

 and those of the higher ranks of nature, we shall find 

 here assembled all those striking peculiarities which 

 abound in the latter ; the piercing eye of the lynx and 

 the falcon, the hard shield of the armadillo, the splen- 

 did tail of the peacock, the imposing horns of the stag, 

 the swiftness of the antelope, the fecundity of the 

 hare, the architectural powers of the beaver, the climb- 

 ing powers of the squirrel, the gambols of the monkey, 

 the swimming of the frog, the burrowing of the mole, 

 and the leaping of the kangaroo ; all these things are 

 found amongst insects, and often, indeed, in a re- 

 doubled degree. Then, the eye of the fly, with its 

 thousands of lenses, the horns of the stag beetle and 

 dynastes, the splendour of the scales upon the dia- 

 mond beetle, the hard covering of the beetles (whence 

 even their ordinal name, Colcoptera, wings in a case), 

 the admirably constructed works of the hive, the 

 maternal cares of the spider, which guards its bundle 

 of eggs with incessant care, carrying them about with 

 it beneath its body , the ingenuity of the cocoon of 

 the emperor moth, constructed with an elastic aper- 

 ture, preventing the entrance of enemies, but allowing 

 exit to the inhabitant ; the numberless progeny of the 

 aphis, the powerful flight of the locust, the leap of 

 elater and grasshopper, the brilliant light of the glow- 

 worm, the instinct of the burying beetles (Necropha- 

 gus\ the mottled jacket of the larva of the clothes- 

 moth, formed of different coloured wool, or the excre- 

 mentitious covering of the larva of the Cassida, the 

 frothy abode of the Cercopis, the abandoned shell 

 inhabited by the hermit crab, and the extraordinary 

 gall residences of the Cynipidce ; all these, and a 

 thousand other not less interesting circumstances ex- 

 hibited, and to be exhibited more at detail in our 

 pages, cannot fail to convince the reader that the 

 class of insects does not possess fewer claims to his 

 attention than any other of the classes of nature. 



The continued action which insects exercise upon 

 the other productions of nature (and we may men- 

 tion, in passing, as a most conclusive evidence of 

 such action, that the island of Grenada is now 

 reduced to a ruinous state owing to the attacks of the 

 diminutive cane-fly upon the canes, having extended 

 nearly throughout the island), the insurmountable 

 power of these enemies, owing to their minuteness, 

 the injuries which they inflict upon our possessions, 

 animal and vegetable, the benefits arising from many 

 of them, their extraordinary forms and transforms' 



