HOUSEWIFE S DEPARTMENT. 



379 



appointed existence. A host of caterpillars 

 first take pos-;essioii of the bi'anclies. and 

 consume the foliage. A supeifluity of sap, 

 (the cu'culatiou of which is rendered languid 

 by the failing strength of the tree,) an unnat- 

 ural increase of the nourishing juices between 

 the bark and wood, and the separation of 

 these parts, are the consequences. 



" Another host of insects now ajjpears ; 

 they bore through the rind into the inner 

 bark, which they eat, and pierce through ; 

 or into the wood, which they pierce and de- 

 stroy. The diseased trees are now nearly 

 dead ; the numerous destructive insects in- 

 crease with the sickness which attracted them 

 there ; each ti'ee dies of a thousand wounds, 

 which it receives externally, and from the 

 enervation which follows in consequence. 

 The dissolution is accomplished by a third 

 host of, for the most part, smaller insects, but 

 still more numerous ; and these are continu- 

 ally employed in reducing the decayed trunks 

 to dust as soon as possible, while at the same 

 time a thicker forest of young trees, and gen- 

 erally of a difterenl kind, spring out of the 

 earth, which had afforded nourishment to the 

 dead tree. Tlie first host certainly occasion- 

 ed the deathly sickness of the forest ; the 

 second accelerated its deatli; and tlie third 

 accomplished its total destruction. It need 

 not be lamented. These trees woidd have 

 died a few years later, without any utility 

 resulting from then- death. Their leafless 

 stems would probably have remained there 

 for half a ceutuiy awaiting their destruction, 

 of no use where they stood, and serving no 

 purpose but as a fearful hophy of death in 

 the field of life. They must die, because 

 they are organic matter. But we only de- 

 stroy a worn-out vessel, that a better may 

 take its jilace, but are not able to make any- 

 thing better out of it. It is not so with Na- 

 ture. IMillions of sensitive beings find a use 

 iu the remains of these dying trees, and un- 

 der every step of near and approaching death 

 thousands spring forth endowed with vital- 



" Each host of these insects are again ex- 

 posed to desti'oyers, which put a check to 

 their too great extension. Other insects, and 

 a gi-eat number of birds, clear away the cat- 

 erpillars while they are feeding on tlie leaves, 

 and when they have luidergone their change, 

 and are lying ui the earth, the wild boar 

 comes and stirs them out from their place of 

 rest with his tusks, and devours them with 

 the greatest eagerness. Those insects which 

 conceal themselves in the inner bark or wood 

 do not share a better fate. The woodpecker 

 knows where to find them, and draws them 

 out of the deepest holes. Wlien tliey ajjpcar 

 on the bark in tiie perfect state, they have 

 the bitterest enemies iu the fly-catcher, the 

 tree-creeper, and all kinds of magpies. Whole 

 hosts of these Ijirds are found where these 

 insectii abound in multitudes; but they leave 

 the place and disperse themselves as soon as 



(739) 



the supeifluity of nourishment is exhausted.* 

 In diis slate all Nature is on a perfect equali- 

 ty ; but Man comes, and destroys the ordei- — 

 he annihilates the haiTnony of Nature, and is 

 astonished at the discordance. First, he sac- 

 rifices the wild boar to gratify his palate ; 

 takes possession of the wood, and, according 

 to the usual fallacy of takmg the consequen- 

 ces for the cause, considers the woodpecker 

 his enemy, and finally, under various preten- 

 ces, wages war with all the birds of the for- 

 est.! Insects appear to him too contemptible 

 for his pursuit, too small, too numerous, and 

 too well concealed, to reward him directly 

 for the trouble of endeavoring to extirpate 

 them. They may, therefore, go on with their 

 occupations undisturbed, and if they can-y 

 them too far, he then complain.s of Provi- 

 dence. 



" After havmg wrested the lordship of tlie 

 woods from the animals, we should pursue 

 with wsdom the economy which heretofore 

 the animals, from a blind impulse of Nature, 

 had practiced. We should anticipate nature 

 m her operations, and cut down trees that 

 approach weak old age, or those that ai'e 

 checked m their gi'owth by a stronger tree 

 standing near them, or those that have been 

 killed by lightning ; and the teeth of the boar 

 which prepared the earth for the seeds, 

 should be replaced by the pickax, and our 

 tame pigs ought to be employed ui digging up 

 the earth-gnibs, which the boar was accus- 

 tomed to do. We only are to blame if our 

 finest forests are destroyed," &c. Such are 

 the expressions of a practical naturalist on bi- 

 sects which are injurious to forests. A simi- 

 lar picture may be formed of those which 

 attack frait-ti'ees, field fruits of all kinds, and 

 even our domestic animals. 



The result of such contemplations will be, 

 that we can only protect ourselves from the 

 injurious influence of insects by an ample 

 knowledge of the reciprocal relation in which 

 one stands to another, and in order to obtain 

 this, it is essentially necessary to acquire a 

 knowledge of those kinds wliich are directly 

 or indirectly injurious to Man, their different 

 stages of life, their nourishment, propagation, 

 duration, and finally their natural enemies. 



From what has been said, the importance 

 of an understanding of Entooiological exist- 

 ence is sufficiently clear. ' 



* Not only does this abundant prevalence, in pro- 

 portion to the numbers of insects which constitute 

 their food, occur in the feathered tribes, but it has 

 also been observed in the parasitic and insectiverous 

 insects, and that not merely as a more numerous 

 congregation, but as an actual increase of numbers. 

 Thus it has been observed, that wlien the proces- 

 sionary caterpillars are especially abundant, the bril- 

 liant beetle Calosoma sijcopUanta, which feeds upon 

 them in the perfect state, is produced in equal jiro- 

 portion. 'J'he causes which operate in the produc- 

 tion of a more than ordinarily numerous supply of 

 the injurious insect.', seem equally favorable to" the 

 increased development of their enemies. 



f A most characteristic anecdote, in illustration of 

 this observation, is civen by Mr. ,'^pcnce in the Intro- 

 duction to Entomology, respecting the rook, v. i. p. 31. 



