88 GRAMMAR OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



bees, which convey the farina from plant to plant, 

 and also from the stamens to the pointal of the 

 same plant. 



291. As food to birds and fishes, insects may 

 be considered by far the principal article ; there 

 is scarcely a bird or a fish but devours them with 

 avidity. 



292. The turnip fly has the power of destroy- 

 ing almost the whole crop of that excellent and 

 useful vegetable, and as yet no certain cure is 

 known for its ravages. Rusticus, an author be- 

 fore quoted, has ascertained that salting the seed 

 acts in a good degree, as a preventive. 



293. The hop fly has the power of destroying 

 the produce of the hop in the most remarkable 

 manner : the crop appears exclusively dependent 

 on the scarcity or abundance of this insect. 



294. The locust, by pestilence or famine, has 

 had, in all ages, the power of sweeping millions of 

 human beings from the face of the earth. 



295. The mosquito, by its unceasing attacks, 

 is capable of rendering life an almost insupportable 

 burden : gnats, and other flies, in hot countries, 

 have an influence over us scarcely less fearful. 



296. Economy of space and materials in archi- 

 tecture is taught us by the bee ; the construction 

 of the honeycomb in hexagonal cells, with trian- 

 gular bottoms, accomplishes these objects in per- 

 fection : geometricians can discover no possible 

 improvement on the plan which bees adopt. 



