APART FROM INSTINCT. 91 



The hen, the cat, the lioness, and bear, also the whale, fur- 

 nish familiar examples of such affection superadded to in- 

 stinct ; and parallel demonstrations of the like endowment are 

 not wanting, though generally overlooked or disallowed, in 

 some tribes of the insect world. 



The prospective skill and care exhibited by solitary bees 

 and wasps in the construction of their nurseries is probably, 

 as with birds in the building of their nests, entirely of an 

 instinctive character; but we must assign, surely, one of a 

 higher description to certain other features of insect maternity, 

 with a few of which we shall conclude our imperfect sketch. 



As in the instances of the quadrupeds above named, this 

 love of offspring does not seem the most strongly developed 

 - in the mild and gentle of the insect tribes such as are con- 

 sidered to represent the grazing animals, but in those, espe- 

 cially, of the fierce and predatory habits, as the cruel spider, 

 the devouring water-scorpion, the already-noticed murderous 

 wasp, and the, occasionally, cannibal earwig the cats, sharks, 

 bears, and tigers of the insect crew. 



It might not so much excite our wonder to find the large 

 feathery wings of the soft and beautiful butterfly, or those of 

 the downy moth, spread, dove-like, over their eggs or infant 

 broods, to hatch or cherish them. These, indeed, are not 

 without their maternal instincts wonderfully displayed. The 

 butterfly deserts her delicate repast among the flowers to de- 

 posit her eggs on the (to herself) uninviting cabbage, which is 



VOL. in. 7: 



