MORAL OF LONG LEGS. 101 



If we were disposed to seek moralities in the regions of 

 fancy, we might suppose that this extreme fragility of the 

 limbs of Father Longlegs was intended to keep him humble, 

 reminding him of the slight tenure of bodily endowments, and 

 thereby teaching him not to "ride too high a horse" over his 

 more lowly creeping insect brethren ; or, to suppose a purpose 

 something nearer probability, we might suggest that since it 

 is better to lose part than all better to leave a leg behind 

 than to part with life that this very fragility of limb was 

 given to the Father Longlegs by way of preservative, when 

 he happens to be laid hold of by boy, bird, or spider. But 

 not to pursue further such speculative notions, we shall close 

 our observations on the crane-fly's shanks, by one other, 

 founded on the indisputable fact, that with his singular apti- 

 tude to lose them is combined an apparent indifference about 

 their loss, even more remarkable. This with the like instances 

 of seeming obtuseness to suffering from ou,tward injuries, ex- 

 emplifies a natural provision, of which (expose-!^ are insects 

 to innumerable mutilations) it is not at all d^Quli^ $o j)er<?ei\*fc 

 the kind and merciful intent. 



Spite of his long skipping strides and rapid flight, few 

 insects fall, indeed, into more frequent jeopardy than the 

 crane-fly and his Tipulidan brethren, which, besides a host 

 of more open enemies, are not without their fox-like des- 

 troyers. Taking now the circuit of our meadow, we find the 

 hedges beset thickly with the nests of geometric spiders, each 



