CHAPTER VII 



WITH INSECT WINGS 



T F the sun were a creative spirit it could hardly 

 * produce more obvious or frequent effects than 

 we now witness in summer. In the hottest time of 

 the year each day brings into being a host of active 

 forms of life, not of the higher kinds, but of insects 

 and creeping things. Many of these ephemeral 

 creatures are innocent of violence, but myriads are 

 born only to catch and devour their fellows, and to 

 search all blades of grass, and twigs and leaves, 

 nay, every crevice, for victims. Nor is this war 

 confined to the regions of air. 



In the waters the engines of violence and death, 

 so varied and numerous, so keen and ready, sug- 

 gest the intensity of the strife in which they are 

 employed. Here are scythes, suckers and pincers, 



