OF NATURAL HISTOJlY. 21 1 



in one year, and their fcate of infancy is fhort. But, of all 

 animals, the infancy and helplefs condition of men are the 

 moft prolonged ; and the fuperiority and dudlility of his 

 mind will not be queilloned. 



The infant ftate of birds is very fhoft. Moft of the feath- 

 ered tribes arrive at perfedion in lefs than iix months j and 

 their fagacity is comparatively limited. 



With regard to iiflies, if the whale and feal kind, v,'ho 

 fuckle their young, be excepted, they receive no aid from 

 their parents. Fillies no fooner efcape from the eggs of 

 their mother, than they are in a condition to procure noiu-ifh- 

 ment, and to provide, in fome meafure, for their own flifety. 

 Of the fagacity of iidies, owing to the element in which 

 they live, we have very little knowledge. But their general 

 character is ftupidity, joined to a voracious and indifcrimi- 

 nating appetite for food. In oppolition to an almoft general 

 law of Nature which fublifts among other animals, fi{hes de- 

 vour, without dirrin(flion, every fmaller or weaker animal, 

 v/hether it belongs to, a difierent fpecies, or to their own. 

 In animals of a much higher order, voracity of appetite is 

 feldom accompanied with ingenuity or elegance of tafte. 

 When tlie principal attention of an animal is engroffed with 

 any fenfual appetite, it is a fair concluiion that the mental 

 powers are weak, becaufe they are chiefly employed upon 

 the grofieft of all objects. If this obfervation be juft, fiflies 

 muft be ranked among the moft ftupid animals of equal mag- 

 nitude and a(rtivity. 



The infant ftate of infedts is a various and complicated 

 fubjecL. After they efcape from the egg^ they undergo fo 

 many changes, and alTume fuch a variety of forms, that 

 it is difficult to determine the period of their exiftence 

 which correfponds to the condition of infancy in the larger 

 animals. Different fpecies remain longer or fhorter in the 

 form of v/orms, caterpillars, or grubs, before they are changed 



