Smi 101 



Yet how few of our modern poets have given 

 heed to the voices of insects ! 



Perhaps it is only to minds inexorably haunted 

 by the Riddle of Life that Nature can speak to 

 day, in those thin sweet trillings, as she spake 

 of old to Solomon. 



The Wisdom of the East hears all things. 

 And he that obtains it will hear the speech of 

 insects, as Sigurd, tasting the Dragon's Heart, 

 heard suddenly the talking of birds. 



NOTE. For the pictures of sSmi accompanying: this paper, I am 

 indebted to a curious manuscript work in several volumes, preserved in 

 the Imperial Library at Uyno. The work is entitled Cbufu-Zusetsu, 

 which might be freely rendered as " Pictures and Descriptions of In 

 sects," and is divided into twelve books. The writer's name is un 

 known ; but he must have been an amiable and interesting: person, to 

 judge from the na'ive preface which he wrote, apologizing for the labors 

 of a lifetime. " When I was young," he says, " I was very fond of 

 catching worms and insects, and making pictures of their shapes, so 

 that these pictures have now become several hundred in number." He 

 believes that he has found a good reason for studying insects : 

 "Among the multitude of living creatures in this world,'" he says, 

 "those having large bodies are familiar: we know very well their 

 names, shapes, and virtues, and the poisons which they possess. But 

 there remain very many small creatures whose natures are still un 

 known, notwithstanding the fact that such little beings as insects and 

 worms are able to injure men and to destroy what has value. So I 

 think that it is very important for us to learn what insects or worms 

 have special virtues or poisons." It appears that he had sent to him 

 " from other countries " some kinds of insects " that eat the leaves and 

 shoots of trees ; " but he could not " get their exact names." For the 

 names of domestic Insects, he consulted many Chinese and Japanese 

 books, and has been " able to write the names with the proper Chinese 

 characters ; " but he tells us that he did not fail " to pick up also the 



