INSECTS. 101 



the purpose of waging war against the insect race, 

 beating up the whole country, toiling over hill and 

 dale with indefatigable perseverance, and so eager in 

 his pursuit that he hardly allows himself time to 

 stick his murderous pins through the unfortunate 

 victims caught in his nets and never wearying of 

 his sport until his collecting box is converted into a 

 great charnel-house, filled with their closely-packed 

 and writhing bodies. He returns home, delighted 

 with his success ; but in spite of all his labour, he has 

 not added a single item to our knowledge, or a single 

 fact to the unknown history of any one species of his 

 numerous specimens. This was not the way in which 

 Reaumur or De Geer devoted themselves to the 

 interrogation of nature ; their efforts were directed 

 not to the destruction, but to the preservation of the 

 objects of their study. They wielded not the scissors 

 of the Fates, wherewith to cut the frail thread of 

 insect life ; their method was to use it as a clue to 

 guide them through the hidden labyrinths of the 

 domestic history and habits of their favourites ; they 

 chose some fitting spot in the vicinity of the abodes 

 of their proteges, and watched and chronicled their 

 every action, until, by patient wooing, they at length 

 succeeded in persuading them to confess the hidden 

 mysteries of their avocations. They dealt with 

 living nature, not with corpses, and their rich pages 

 testify to the interesting result of their researches. 



It is certainly instructive on a winter evening to 

 examine with the microscope the various parts of a 

 butterfly, and investigate their curious structure, but 

 it is in the early morning, when the sun shines on 

 the laughing earth, the flowers have opened, and all 

 nature smiles, that the butterfly is to be seen in per- 

 fection, fanning the perfumed air with wings as white 

 and pure as are the blossoms of the lily over which 

 he plays, coquetting, as it were, to wake the jealousy 

 of neighbouring roses. Is it coquetry, or is it 

 that he knows not where to choose the sweetest 

 nectar or the prettiest flower ? See ! how he now 



