204 DESIGNS OF NATURE 



it is particularly disgusting ; not only from its magni- 

 tude and smell, but from its color, which is a lurid red, 

 so compounded with a dingy yellow, as to give it a 

 lividness of look, conveying the idea of something raw. 

 Common as the grub is in some years, I have seldom 

 been able to obtain the moth, without the often tedious 

 process of feeding the larvae, and waiting for its change. 



Of those caterpillars which feed upon the foliage of 

 vegetation, a considerable portion are picked off and 

 consumed by the numerous little birds which are con- 

 stantly hunting after them, as food for themselves or 

 their young ones ; and many of those which are sup- 

 ported by the roots of plants, and remain covered in 

 the soil, are detected by the perception of rooks, and 

 birds of that order ; but those which feed upon the in- 

 ternal parts of trees seem exempted from any of these 

 causes of destruction. This is possibly a reason that 

 the larvae of phalaena cossus is so plentifully found ; but 

 yet it is pretty certain that some other and equally fatal 

 visitation assails them, and reduces their numbers 

 during the long period which is required to perfect 

 their state : for though, by feeding and care, (for they 

 are very impatient of confinement,) we can obtain the 

 moth in numbers, yet few seem to survive and become 

 perfected by the common processes of nature, at least 

 I have seldom found them in this state, though the larvae 

 is so plentifully seen. 



The designs of supreme intelligence in the creation 

 and preservation of the insect world, and the regula- 

 tions and appointments whereby their increase or de- 

 crease is maintained, and periodical appearance pre- 

 scribed, are among the most perplexing considerations 

 of natural history. That insects are kept in reserve for 

 stated seasons of action, we know, being commonly 

 made the agents of Providence in his visitations of 

 mankind. The locust, the caterpillar, the palmer-worm, 

 the various family of blights, that poison in the spring 

 all the promise of the year, are insects. Mildew, indeed, 

 is a vegetable ; but the wire worm destroys the root, the 

 thrips the germ of the wheat, and hunger and famine 

 ensue. Many of the coleopterae remove nuisances, others 



