204 BRITISH CICAD.Tl. 



of prayer. He may sometimes be heard to address the 

 insect to this effect, "When thou prayest, insect! 

 pray for me ! " 



Mr. Wallace speaks hopefully of the future as to our 

 being able, as the rocks are better searched, to find 

 examples of the ancestry of insects far back in geological 

 time. The unexpected discovery of insects of high type 

 and greatly specialized forms in Palaozoic strata, 

 shows the great antiquity of orders ^Yhich already 

 had acquired their chief characteristics. Such a 

 discovery renders all speculation as to the origin 

 of true insects premature. We must go much farther 

 back even than to these early times to find ancestral 

 forms. Mr. Wallace, however, concludes that the 

 geological difficulty has now disappeared ; and that 

 the noble science, when properly understood, affords 

 clear and weighty evidence of evolution.* 



Montaigne, cynically quoting Juvenal, says : — 



"Let patients iu great doubt, 

 Seek great Physicians out." 



" Curentur dubii medicis majoribus segri." 



Juv., Sat. 13, 124. 



In making such a quotation, however, we would 

 not imply that the study of Geology gives no su2:)port 

 to the doctrine of the transmutation of species. We 

 only state our hesitation to accept the idea, except 

 " by authority," that the geological difficulty has now 

 been disposed of. 



To conclude. Natural science has the supreme ad- 

 vantage over all other science in being inexhaustible. 

 The collateral interests and questions which arise are 

 on every side demanding attention and answers. 



The present volumes may be thought discursive 

 as a Monograph. The author is painluUy sensible 

 of errors both of commission and omission; but it 

 is offered to lovers of nature more as a contributory 



■■' See 'Darwinism,' p. 409, 



