OUR BENEFACTORS. 289 



after draining it of the honey, is by far the more valuable 

 product of the two, and that some of the arts metal 

 statuary, for example could not be conducted without it. 



Take the silkworm. It destroys the leaves of the 

 mulberry-tree, and injures the crop of fruit which man 

 wants for himself, so that, to a race of men sufficiently 

 civilised to cultivate the mulberry-tree, it would be 

 classed among the noxious insects. 



But further knowledge about the habits of the crea- 

 ture enables mankind to understand its counterbalancing 

 qualities, and so, although the silkworm consumes far 

 more mulberry foliage than it did when it was con- 

 sidered merely as a noxious insect, we have learned to 

 compare the value of the silk which it produces with 

 that of the leaves which it devours, and prize the silk- 

 worm as a source of national wealth. 



In these few instances the counterbalancing qualities 

 are so directly beneficial to civilised man as to be 

 obvious even to the most unobservant among us. Semi- 

 civilised man finds similar direct benefits in various 

 insects. For example, in many countries the social 

 wasps are almost as valuable as the social bees, the 

 grubs of both being a highly-prized article of food. 



In Mexico there are most remarkable ants, popularly 

 called Hormigas mieleras, and scientifically known as 

 Myrmecocystus Mexicanus. These ants are most wonder- 

 ful beings, for they not only collect honey, but store it 

 for future use in vessels so strange that their existence 

 would almost be thought impossible. 



