THE LADY-BIRD. 143 



substance, whilst the perfect insects, in rapidly in- 

 creasing numbers, completely riddle them with holes. 

 Numerous allied species are found upon various 

 plants and trees, to which, when they occur in abun- 

 dance, they often do considerable damage. 



Embalmed in nursery rhymes, associated with all our 

 earliest recollections of bright sunny days, when nature, 

 like our childish views of life, presented nothing 

 but what was fresh and charming, the little Lady- 

 bird continues, long after all these youthful dreams of 

 happiness have passed away, to be regarded, uncon- 

 sciously perhaps, with a certain amount of affection, 

 as one of the earliest Mends of our childhood. It is 

 not only in our own country that the quiet, and appa- 

 rently inoffensive, habits and pretty appearance of the 

 common Lady-bird have obtained for it this indulgent 

 regard ; in most parts of Europe, at any rate, it seems 

 to hold a somewhat similar position, and the names 

 given to it are generally expressive of the feeling with 

 which it is regarded, not unfrequently, like our own 

 Lady-cow and Lady-bird, dedicating it more particu- 

 larly to the Virgin, or to the Deity himself. Thus, 

 the French call it Bete de la Vierge, and also Vache a 

 Dieu, and the Germans Marienkafer, Marienkuh, and 

 (rotteslammchen. But besides this sentimental claim 

 upon our consideration, nearly all the species of Lady- 

 birds possess a good quality of a more positive nature, 

 for instead of damaging the produce of our gardens and 

 fields, like the insects of the preceding tribe, their 

 presence upon our cultivated plants is in the highest 

 degree beneficial, and they must certainly be enrolled 

 amongst the army of our insect-friends, in which, 



