170 INSECT CHECKS AND COUNTERCHECKS. 



our poultry thrive all the better, especially ducks and turkeys, 

 for a sprinkle of Caterpillars, Flies, and Spiders, as a relish 

 with their ordinary food. 



The aid afforded by Bees and other Insects in the propaga- 

 tion of various flowers, by conveying on their hairy backs the 

 pollen of one to the stigma of another, is no secret to the 

 botanist, and gardeners know something, and ought to know 

 still more, of the value of certain tribes of insect-eating Insects 

 as checks upon the vegetable ravagers of their own race. Both 

 the gardener and the hop -grower would find it worth their 

 while to keep up standing armies of Lady -bird red-coats 

 against the Aphis legions which ravage their plantations and 

 parterres. Lace-winged Flies and Syrphus Grubs are worthy 

 of all encouragement for the same important service, and, as 

 remarked by Southey, the more Spiders in the stable the less 

 would horses suffer from the Flies. 



But neither from the above nor from any other known bene- 

 fits, are we to measure the usefulness of the Insect creation as 

 connected with other orders of being. A remark of Curtis on 

 the apparently superfluous productions of the vegetable world 

 is equally applicable to those of the Insect kingdom. Speaking 

 of a certain water-grass (aim aquatica), very common in boggy 

 meadows and found to be entirely useless for cattle, he justly 

 observes, that " we ought not to look on this or any other plant 

 as made in vain, because we do not immediately see its purpose. 

 This grass is plucked by various water-fowls, and no less than 



