OF INSECTS IN GENERAL. 353 



duce of the vegetable kingdom ; not a few, it muft be 

 allowed, are alfo futlained by devouring animal food. 

 Between thefe two fpecies of nourifliment there is a wide 

 difference ; and infedls afford a fpecies of nutrimerit 

 which feems to partake fomewhat of the nature of both, 

 and which fupplies the wants of an infinite number of 

 creatures whofe conftitutions are not wholly adapted to 

 either. Many kinds of birds live upon hardly any other 

 food. What a blank in the feathered race would enfiie, 

 were tliis copious fource of provifion fhut up from that 

 part of the animal kingdom ! The fillies feem ftiil more 

 dependent on the fupplies afforded by thofe numerous 

 tribes of infeds that either float upon the water, or are 

 feen hovering over its furface. The whale, the largcft 

 of nature's animated offspring, as we have already had, 

 occafion to obferve, is fupportcd folely by an infcd; which 

 it finds floating upon the waves. Among this clafs alfo, 

 an inconceivable diminution of numbers .would necelTaii- 

 ly eufue, were the food of infe6ls denied to the inhabi- 

 tants of the water. Farther, many of the larger infc6ls 

 prey upon the fmallcr ; all tliefe, as well as the difTerent 

 animals they fupport, muft be 'unavoidably flruck out of 

 the family of nature the moment this fpecies of fupport 

 is withheld. 



By means of the food of infers, therefox-e, a large pro- 

 ]?ortion of the fuperior ranks of animated beings arc fup- 

 ported, all which would of neccffity pcrifn, v/ere this 

 order of animals deflroyed. What a dreadful chafm in 

 the works of nature would tlie annihilation of a clafs of 

 b'eings occafion, which of itRlf conllitutcs fo large a pro- 

 portion of her living produ6lions, and wliich prcfcrves tl;?: 

 cxifience of fo many more ! The air, the earth, and the 

 fca, which, according to the prefent fyftem, teem with 



Vol. III. Y y life, 



