ICHNEUMONS. 1 25 



from the insect portions of creation, both direct 

 and indirect. IVIany necessaries, and even 

 luxuries, come to us from these minute sources, 

 and hke the fungi, in consuming decomposing 

 matter, they avert the dangers of numerous 

 fatal diseases that would otherwise approach us 

 on the wings of every breath. On the other 

 hand, their encroachments, as in the instances 

 of the wheat-midge, and Hessian fly, fill us 

 with alarms, and threaten the destruction of 

 our harvests. But all things are wonderfully 

 regulated by Him who holds in his hands the 

 balances of nature, though the modes of their 

 adjustment are often hidden from common view, 

 and, to be known, require, like the treasures of 

 spiritual truth, careful research. We have seen 

 what might be apprehended from the wheat- 

 midge in this country, if it multiplied un- 

 checked ; nor are persons in general aware of 

 the marvellous antagonism provided against 

 such disasters. Till the entomologist discovered 

 the wonderful habits of a peculiar tribe of in- 

 sects, called by the common name ichneumon, 

 the existence of such a check on the minute 

 devastators of our crops was totally unknown. 

 Ichneumons, so called, are the instruments of 

 this benefit. The term ichneumon has been 



