35* OF INSECTS IN GENERAL. 



has ever yet been adduced, to eftablifn it. The fmalleili' 

 and moil delicate infers, for ought our fenfes can difco" 

 ver, may find various particles of matter floating in the 

 air that may ferve for their fupport ; th.e efRuvia conti- 

 nually emitted by animal and vegetable fubftances in a 

 ftate of putrefatbion, probably fupport many of this clafs: 

 We know at leaft, that feveral tilbes are capable o£ li- 

 ving upon the earthy particles that are found floating in 

 the pureft water ; and if animals of that fuperior iize are 

 thus fupported, there can hardly be any room to doubt 

 that infecls, many of whom are fcarcely perceptible, may- 

 find abundant fubfiftence in the air, impregnated as it is 

 with various effluvia. 



The economical ufcs of infefts^ and their noxious ef- 

 fe£ls upon the various objects of human indufl;ry, have 

 ftlready been confidered * ; it now remains, that we point 

 out the purpofes which they fcrve in the general fyltem 

 of nature. A clafs of beings by far the mofl: numerous 

 upon the face of the globe, and however fmall taken in* 

 dividually, yet forming colleclively a mafs of organ ifed 

 matter, fuperior in bulk to any other department of the 

 animal kingdom, every perfon v/ill admit, could not be 

 originally formed for no purpcfe, nor continue to be pro- 

 pagated without anfwering fome important ufes in the 

 economy of nature. 



The firfl and mofl obvious ufe of this part of the ani- 

 mal kingdom, feems to confill in that large fupply of 

 provinon wlilch it aflords the fuperior ranks of animated 

 beings. It is for this important purpofe that the whole 

 furface of the earth is annually covered with plants and 

 herbage; and manj', perhaps the greater part of the 

 larger animals are fupported by the immediate pro- 



ducf? 



* Sea. I, 



