216 UP AND DOWN THE BROOKS, 



pointment in life. He fell prone under it at first, 

 and then began to wildly stretch around demand- 

 ing his prize again. I put him on a leaf and al- 

 lowed him to search for an aphis to his liking. 

 But he was hard to suit. I think he had eaten 

 enough, for he walked among the Aphides awhile, 

 an uneasy speck, threatening them with destruc- 

 tion, yet harming none of them. So I thrust him 

 out into the world and let him go on his blind 

 way to shift for himself in the branches of a pink 

 moss-rose. Probably before now he has brought 

 ruin and devastation to many a happy aphis. It 

 is wonderful how independent insects are, even 

 from the first moment they gain strength after 

 coming out from the egg. Without a mother to 

 care for them or a home to shelter them, out they 

 go. The whole world is their home and they are 

 happy in it. Let enemies come and they are 

 ready for them, sometimes more than ready, eager 

 for the conflict, having the spirit of the Templars, 

 of whom it is said that none ever asked the num- 

 ber of the enemy, but only demanded, " Where 

 are they ? " 



But how hard-hearted are the insects toward 

 one another ! In all the time that I have watched 

 them I do not recollect ever having seen an act 

 of compassion performed by any kind of insect 

 for another. The brown plant-lice arid the ants 

 that I have found together on the backs of willow- 

 leaves seem to be perhaps as, friendly as any in-. 



