INVEKTEBRATA. 415 



all, indeed, "but parts of one great whole ?" Each form 

 being an indispensable integer, amazement unspeakable 

 is the only emotion which seizes the mind upon contem- 

 plating this endless chain of organisms. The patterns of 

 Plato's cave were surely exhausted here ; mechanism in 

 every possible form was certainly made bankrupt in this 

 series of structures. All the elements are inhabited by 

 them ; old earth, and air, and water are full of them. They 

 infest all plants, all animals, and each other. As the ancient 

 herb-eating monster had a flesh-eating brother to devour 

 him in turn, so has the microscopic insect a sure and stead- 

 fast friend sticking closer than a brother a microscopic 

 dragon that is certain at last to swallow him. This compen- 

 sative system is a happy one for man, who is so often the 

 victim of the depredation of insects in various ways, as they 

 divide the world with him, being carnivorous, herbivorous, 

 and omnivorous. Thus is it, that this eternal devouring 

 throughout nature is rendered harmonious in the silent 

 clock-work of the world ; by a Divine equation each open 

 mouth has something to fill it, and is sure to know what has 

 been arranged for it ; and thus comes the terrific formula of 

 all existence, that the universe is a stomach and intestine, 

 in which circulate peristaltically palpitating particles, still 

 crushed and consumed, and whose destiny in the system of 

 uses is to serve a purpose, fill an end, in short, eat and be 

 eaten. 



On what may be styled the personal relationship of in- 

 sects to man there are many curious chapters, most of which 

 are troublesome and offensive, from fleas and itch-insects 

 to the pediculus humanus and the inhabitants of unclean 

 beds. Many bite venomously ; others inflict poisonous 

 wounds by stings ; while others revel in his blood, con- 

 stituting the most execrable torments of existence. Of 

 these are hornets, yellow-jackets, and "infernal furies;" 

 also wasps, gnats, and flies, not forgetting that beauti- 

 ful and musical friend of man, the charming mosquito, 

 a word upon whom will illustrate the most interesting re- 



