328 CONCLUSION, 



inhabit, their value as an article of our food, their amazing 

 fecundity, their powers and faculties, though inferior to 

 those of beasts and birds, challenge our admiration, and 

 are calculated to animate our researches. 



The gregarious and migratory kinds, such as the herring, 

 the pilchard, and many others, furnish a wonderful proof 

 of instinct, implanted and directed by Infinite Wisdom : 

 while the more stationary tribes show how well the climate 

 which they prefer is suited to their wants and modes of life. 



The science of entomology, or that which relates to IN- 

 SECTS, is so extensive as almost to baffle the most inquisitive 

 investigator. Every plant, every leaf, is the receptacle 

 or the food of one or more species, some of which are 

 imperceptible to the naked eye. The study, however, is 

 replete with rational entertainment. All insects are pro- 

 pagated from eggs, which by a wonderful law of nature 

 undergo several changes, before the animal arrives at its 

 perfect state. The caterpillar, the aurelia, and the butter- 

 fly, so distinguishable from each other, are but the same 

 animal in different characters of existence. Even the mi- 

 nutest insect is formed with as much skill as the most 

 stately quadruped ; and is equally qualified to enjoy life, 

 and to transmit that life to its posterity, A general know- 

 ledge, however, of this class may be sufficient for the na- 

 turalist : and, when we arrive at the last of the species, or 

 that of WORMS, our difficulties undoubtedly increase ; and 

 some limits should be set to our inquiries, unless we have 

 leisure to devote ourselves wholly to the enchanting study 

 of the works of NATURE. But even the most incurious can- 

 not overlook the tribe of shells, whose beauty and me- 

 chanism baffle all description. In them life seems to be 

 scarcely active, and to many the locomotive power is de- 

 nied : but still we shall discover wonders in the economy 

 of the most humble existence ; and even the zoophite, 

 which connects the animal with the vegetable kingdom, 

 even the animalcule that floats in the liquor which we 

 drink, or lodges in our food, has, beyond all controversy, 

 its sphere of duties to fill, and its sb$ v e of blessings to enjoy. 



