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ephemera of creation coming into life with the 

 morning radiance, and dying with the sun-set, 

 nay, often doomed to live only a few hours, is 

 incompatible with the idea of happiness confer- 

 red upon all creatures. It may appear to him 

 that the short enjoyment of the great ends of ex- 

 istence, in insects which vie with the clear and 

 transparent heavens in beauty, their few pleasures 

 when compared with those of animals of higher 

 instinct, and their apparent constant liability to 

 the pursuit of enemies, detract from the evidences 

 of a Father's hand, directing in kindness the va- 

 rious operations in the economy of nature. But 

 is it to be supposed, that time, which is marked 

 in our existence by the chime of a bell, by light 

 and darkness, by youth, manhood and old age, 

 is similarly portioned out to creatures which ac- 

 complish the whole purpose of their existence in 

 the space of one day ? Is it not more probable 

 that their periods of time, so brief to our percep- 

 tions, are, to their view, of long duration, and 

 that the acts of some insect tribes, which to us 

 appear momentary are really to them the work 

 of comparative days, and months, and years ? 



Thus far then, I have endeavoured to note a 

 few of those points of consideration which bring 

 the faculties of insects into comparison with those 

 of man. They are real analogies, because we 

 cannot form to ourselves the notion of senses 

 enjoyed by the lowest of animate beings, which 

 being similar in their characters to our own, are 

 yet not accompanied by somewhat similar sensa- 



