90 



ANIMAL AFFECTION. 



at once within her nursery larder a store sufficient to supply 

 the future exigencies of its inmate, she, from time to time, 

 carries hither a living caterpillar, opening and reclosing the 

 nest for her entrance and exit. 



The above are only a few instances, chosen from a multi- 

 tude, which display extraordinary degrees of ingenuity, in- 

 dustry and sagacity, exerted, prospectively by insect mothers 

 for the welfare of their progeny ; but from the very circum- 

 stance of their care being of this prospective nature, and dis- 

 played, for the most part, towards as yet inanimate objects, 

 we may not be disposed to view it, as with the larger animals, 

 and birds, in the light of an implanted affection, but look 

 upon it rather as a cold mechanical instinct, blindly followed 

 for an end of which the agent can have no perception. 



To a certain extent, this view may be no less applicable to 

 the maternal offices of the feathered race and quadrupeds 

 during the limited duration of their parental cares, tenderly 

 and beautifully as these are exercised ; only, however, to this 

 certain degree, because under circumstances of unusual excite- 

 ment, of danger or bereavement, the mothers of the brute 

 creation are accustomed to display signs of feeling, solicitude, 

 and suffering, quite distinct from, and over and above, that 

 measure of instinctive care requisite for the rearing of their 

 offspring, and very much akin, at least in appearance, to that 

 surpassing love which warms the heart of a maternal parent 

 of the human race. 



