MOTHS OF LEAF-MINERS. 317 



hawk-moth, fashion, the sweets of various flowers; those, in 

 particular, of its favourite Knapweed* 



We must reserve for another place some notice more in 

 detail of the exquisite painting and gilding bestowed by 

 Nature's hand upon various gems of the insect race ; but 

 while speaking of moths with reference to remarkable colour- 

 ing or remarkable size, we cannot here entirely pass over that 

 tiny tribe which begin life as leaf-mining caterpillars, f These 

 have been justly designated as "Miracles of Nature," resplen- 

 dent with gold, silver, and pearl blended with infinite taste 

 and beauty, and it is of these that Keaumur has spoken as of 

 11 Papillons de la petitesse desguels on estfdches" 



Yes, we regret their minuteness, because our own capacities 

 are so little, and our senses so limited. We may be inclined 

 to wonder, also, that so much ornament should be lavished 

 upon forms well-nigh lost (to us) for want of magnitude ; but 

 when we remember that He to whom the immeasurable mass 

 and the invisible atom are both alike, has seen fit to bestow 

 well-nigh as large a portion of a gift more precious, that of in- 

 stinct, or " animal mind" upon an ant as upon an elephant, 

 we can wonder no longer that the wing of the tiniest moth 

 that ever issued from between the membranes of a leaf or the 

 skin of a barleycorn, should be deemed worthy of an inlay as 

 beautiful and more rich than. that of the comparatively giant 

 Death's-head, or yet bulkier Phalcena Atlas. 



* PTirygia nigra. t See p. 228, "Moths as Operatives." 



