14 INTRODUCTION. 



be very serviceable to endeavour to introduce, as well as the 

 true silkworm and the Coccus cacti. Gumlac also, wax and 

 ink-galls are insect productions of too great importance to 

 be passed over without notice. But there are other classes 



The Ink-gall entire, and cut open, with tlie insect by which it is produced {Cynipstinctoria.) 



of benefits resulting from the relations of insects with other 

 organized beings. These, although less directly aifecting 

 man, ought not to be overlooked in a general sm'vey of the 

 economy of nature. Suppose the race of insects to be en- 

 tirely annihilated, and then observe the thousands of ills 

 which would inevitably result from the putrefying masses of 

 animal and vegetable productions, and which are now, as it 

 were, reduced to their native elements solely by the interfer- 

 ence of the insect tribes. The entire tribes of Silpha, Ne- 

 crophagi, Dermestes, Nitidulce, immediately fall upon the 

 dead carcases of animals, devouring the flesh, and accelerat- 

 ing the dissipation of the putrid mass ; and these, assisted by 

 myriads of flies, which deposit their eggs in the decomposing 

 body in such immense numbers, succeed, in a very few days, 

 in reducing the carcass to a mere skeleton. In like manner, 

 the Scarahicedce (whose extraordinary habits of rolling their 

 eggs in globules of dung caused them to be regarded as sacred 

 by the Egyptians), the Geotrupidce, Histeridce, and many 

 other insects, are equally serviceable in burrowing into the 

 earth underneath the fallen excrements of animals, and 

 thus disseminating them, rendering them serviceable to 



