THE DARK DAYS OF INSECT LIFE 



SOMETIMES by too close and confining study 

 of things pertaining to the genus Homo, we 

 perchance find ourselves complacently wondering 

 if we have not solved almost all the problems of 

 this little whirling sphere of water and earth. Our 

 minds turn to the ultra questions of atoms and 

 ions and rays and our eyes strain restlessly up- 

 ward toward our nearest planet neighbour, in 

 half admission that we must soon take up the 

 study of Mars from sheer lack of earthly conquest. 



If so minded, hie you to the nearest grove and, 

 digging down through the mid-winter's snow, 

 bring home a spadeful of leaf -mould. Examine 

 it carefully with hand-lens and microscope, and 

 then prophesy what warmth and light will bring 

 forth. Watch the unfolding life of plant and ani- 

 mal, and then come from your planet-yearning 

 back to earth, with a humbleness born of a realisa- 

 tion of our vast ignorance of the commonest things 

 about us. 



Though the immediate mysteries of the seed and 

 the egg baffle us, yet the most casual lover of 

 God's out-of-doors may hopefully attempt to solve 

 the question of some of the winter homes of 

 insects. Think of the thousands upon thousands 

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