THE BUGS. 



133 



may seem incredible that a despicable brown bug, not half 

 an inch long, should have the audacity to practise against 

 the life of a silkworm as large as your little finger, in all its 

 splendour of green and gold ; but the circumstantial evi- 

 dence was not to be gainsaid. There was the shrunken 

 corpse of the splendid spinner, and there, close by, was the 

 criminal form of the skulking sinner. And I sighed for 

 the American invention which proclaimed instant death 

 to potato-bugs, and was perfectly innocuous to all domestic 

 animals. This preparation was sold very cheap, in small 

 packets which were not to be opened until required for 

 use. When the customer opened the packet he found two 

 square blocks of hard wood, on one of which were the 

 directions for use : " Place the bug upon this block and 

 press firmly with the other." Could I have placed those 

 silkworm-murderers, one by one, upon the lower block, it 

 would have given me uncommon pleasure to "press firmly 

 with the other." 



It is not clear why I should be writing in December of 

 an essentially monsoon plague. I was last at frogs, and 

 perhaps the memory of their music took me back some 

 months. Yet there is one large tribe of bugs which may 

 be studied with advantage at this season, namely, the 



