SENSIBILITY OF INSECTS. 79 



ment, that two of them had overpowered the third, 

 had eaten the body, and were then deliberately pick- 

 ing out the fragments of flesh which stUl adhered to 

 the horny covering. 



" The poor beetle that we tread upon " must not, 

 however, be passed by with so cursory a notice. The 

 precise meaning which in this passage the Poet in- 

 tended to convey would indicate to us what was 

 Shakspeare's opinion of the sensibiht}^ of insects 

 compared with that of man, and this in our present 

 researches it is important to ascertain. The passage 

 in which these words occur, is introduced in " Mea- 

 sure for Measure." 



" the poor beetle that we tread upon 



In corporal sufferance finds a pang- as great 

 As when a giant dies." — Act III. >Sc. I. 



Numerous, indeed, are the observations to which 

 those lines have given rise. It is usually asserted 

 that the Poet meant to saj^, " the corporal sufferings of 

 a giant are great, and those of a beetle when trodden 

 underfoot are as great." If this be so, the Entomologist 

 who kills an insect for his cabinet, occasions the same 

 amount of actual suffering he would do, were he to 

 put one of his fellow- creatures to death. Were this 

 the case, I for one would abjure a pursuit so fraught 

 with cruelt)', and bury my entire collection " deeper 

 than e'er plummet sounded." But, before I say 



