16 



Insect Architecture. 



quirers, who knew that such employments of the instinct 

 with which each species is endowed by its Creator offered 

 the most valuable and instructive lessons, and opened to 

 them a wide field of the most delightful study. The con- 

 struction of their habitations is certainly among the most 

 remarkable peculiarities in the economy of insects ; and it is 

 of this subject that we propose to treat under the general 

 name, which is sufficiently applicable to our purpose, of 

 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



In the descriptions which we shall give of Insect Archi- 

 tecture, we shall employ as few technical words as possible : 

 and such as we cannot well avoid, we shall explain in their 

 places ; but, since our subject chiefly relates to the reproduc- 

 tion of insects, it may be useful to many readers to introduce 

 here a brief description of the changes which they undergo. 



It was of old believed that insects were produced spon- 

 taneously by putrefying substances ; and Virgil gives the 

 details of a process *for creating a swarm of bees out of the 

 carcase of a bull ; but Eedi, a celebrated Italian naturalist, 



/ .7 



Magnified eggs, of a, Geometra armillata, b, of an unknown water insect; c, of the 

 lacquey moth; d,of a caddis-fly (Phryganea at 'aid) ; e, of red underwing moth (C'atocala 

 nupta) if, of Pontia tirassicce; g, of the Cliideu Nonpareil moth. 



proved by rigid experiments that they are always, in such 

 cases, hatched from eggs previously laid. Most insects, 

 indeed, lay eggs, though some few are viviparous, and some 



