148 WINTER-SLEEP OF INSECTS. 



LESSON XXX. 



WINTER-SLEEP OF INSECTS USEFULNESS OF 



INSECTS. 



MOST insects pass the winter in a torpid state. 

 Spiders roll themselves up in a thick shroud of 

 web, and are found lying apparently dead, but are 

 easily revived by placing them in a warm situa- 

 tion : heaps of torpid beetles are met with in situ- 

 ations suited for their preservation. The pupae 

 of butterflies occupy crevices in bark, or are bu- 

 ried deep in the ground, some of them naked, and 

 others wrapped in garments of beautiful silk. 

 The larvae of cockchafers, dragon flies, and others, 

 may be found, each carefully protected, and in 

 places fitted for their wants. 



The care which God takes of all his creatures 

 is singularly shown in the modes in which the 

 eggs of insects are preserved from cold or wet. 

 Some are deposited by a parent who never felt the 

 cold, deep in the earth ; others are placed on twigs 

 and branches, but never on the perishable leaves ; 

 and others are found covered with a thick coating 

 of water-proof varnish, or with down taken from 

 the mother's body. 



Insects are of the most extensive utility. We 

 are too apt to consider them as troublesome 

 plagues ; but this is an error. Beetles and cock- 

 roaches may be called the scavengers of the insect 



