CONTENTS. XV 



" We challenge all the nations.' 1 ' 1 



Insect artizans, -whose tools of divine adaptation, and works divinely guided, 

 defy, unpresuraingly, all human competition 333 



50. TWO THINGS OF DIFFICULT DEFINITION. 



The subject of this Vignette is the Parsonage House at Barham, Suffolk, of the 

 late venerable and lamented Mr. Kirby, the distinguished author, in conjunc- 

 tion with Mr. Spence, of the well-known " Introduction to Entomology," 

 and of one of the " Bridgewater Treatises." The Wasp in the foreground, 

 employed in cutting off the wings of a fly, with a view to its more convenient 

 transport, is illustrative of an anecdote given by Dr. Darwin, and quoted by 

 Kirby, in his observations on two classes of insect activities those prompted 

 solely by Instinct, and those guided by apparent Keason .... 334 



" More ways than one of getting at the lottom of a secret." 



A portly Humble Bee, one too bulky for entrance at the spring door of the Snap- 

 dragon, leading to its nectary, bores a hole at the bottom of the floral cask 

 to obtain its honeyed wine 357 



51. THE SPIRITS OF HEARTH AND HOME. 



A trio of common Cockroaches (Blatta Germanica), commonly misnamed Black 

 Beetles, are the invaders of the kitchen here represented . . . 358 



" Memory, painter of the past, let us invoice thee." 



Acheta, in a review of past stages, traces the development of his own imago, his 

 present self 412 



