304? CLASS V. INSECTS. 



of far greater dimensions ; perhaps more so. Why then 

 should the life of the most ignoble being be sported with, 

 when there is neither provocation nor justifiable tempt- 

 ation ? Montaigne remarks, that there is a certain claim 

 of kindness and benevolence which every species of ani- 

 mals has a right to expect from man. This principle 

 should be pressed upon tender minds in its fullest extent. 

 Children ought to be early warned against the most distant 

 approaches to cruelty ; a disposition to torture insects 

 may take its rise from an over-active temperament, or be 

 attributed to want of reflection ; but if indulged, it may 

 settle into a habit, and render its possessor callous to every 

 kind of suffering, except his own. The supreme court of 

 judicature at Athens, punished a boy for putting out the 

 eyes of a poor bird that unfortunately fell into his hands ; 

 and parents and masters should never overlook an instance 

 of cruelty to any thing that has life, however minute and 

 contemptible the object may be. In the microscopic in- 

 sect, as well as in the enormous whale, we find evident 

 marks of the same wisdom and the same paternal good- 

 ness ; every creature is furnished with all that is necessary 

 both for its preservation and its happiness, in that sphere 

 to which Providence has consigned it ; and we certainly 

 violate the laws of nature and of nature's God when 

 we wantonly inflict pain, and lessen or prevent enjoy- 

 ment. 



To obtain even a moderate acquaintance with the his- 

 tory of insects, would require years of sedulous atten- 

 tion ; and at last the knowledge would be curious perhaps, 

 rather than useful. It cannot, therefore, be wished that 

 life should be spent in such inferior pursuits ; yet every 

 lover of nature will derive gratification and improve- 

 ment in a general acquaintance with this class of beings, 

 by studying the outlines of systematic arrangement, and 

 acquiring the terms of art used in the science of en- 

 tomology. 



The first thing to which the young student should 

 attend is, to be able to distinguish insects accurately from 



