226 FOOD OF INSECTS. 



The vegetable feeders have, for the most part, but little difficulty in sup- 

 plying their wants. In the larva state they generally find themselves placed 

 by the parent insect upon the very plant or substance which is to nourish 

 them ; and in their perfect state their wings or feet afford a ready convey- 

 ance to the banquet to which, by an unerring sense, they are directed. All 

 nature lies before them, and it is only when their numbers are extraordi- 

 narily increased, or in consequence of some unusual destruction of their 

 appropriate aliment, that they perish for want. The description of their 

 food renders unnecessary those artifices to which many of the carnivorous 

 insects are obliged to have recourse ; and none of them, if we except the 

 white ants, whose cunning mode of insinuating themselves into houses in 

 tropical climates has been detailed in a former letter, can be said to use 

 stratagem in obtaining their food. 



Of the carnivorous species, the greater proportion attack their prey 

 by open violence ; such as the predaceous beetles, the Ichneumons, bur- 

 rowing wasps, and true wasps ; the preying insects (Mantis) ; the bugs 

 (GeocoriscB Latr.) ; dragon flies (Libellulina), &c., which have been before 

 adverted to. But a very considerable number, chiefly, however, of one 

 tribe, that of spiders, provide their sustenance solely by artifice and 

 stratagem, the singularity of which, and the admirable adaptation of the 

 instruments by which they take their prey to the end in view, afford a 

 most wonderful instance of the power and wisdom of the Creator, and 

 have attracted admiration in all ages. A description of these, however, 

 which will require a detailed survey, I must defer to another letter. 



I am, &c. 



