94 PREVALENCE OF INSECT LIFE. 



evidence of a life untrammelled by the artificial rules 

 of society. 



Not only do insects make their presence known to 

 the ear, but they also address themselves to the eye. 

 Their forms may be seen flitting through the air, 

 running upon the ground, or making their abode on 

 the various examples of vegetable life. Compara- 

 tively small as insects are, they are of vast impor- 

 tance collectively ; and there is hardly a leaf of a 

 tree, a blade of grass, or a square inch of ground, 

 where we may not trace the work of some insect. 

 Nearly all strange and curious objects that are 

 noticed by observant eyes in the woods or fields are 

 caused by the action of insects, and are often the 

 insects themselves, in one or other of the phases of 

 their varied life. Certain examples of insect life, 

 and its effects, will now be given. No particular 

 order will be observed, no long scientific terms will 

 be used, and every creature that is mentioned will 

 be so common tnat it may be found ahnost in every 

 field. 



The first creature that we will notice is that cater- 

 pillar which is so abundantly found at several seasons 

 of the spring and summer, and, from the long hairy 

 skin in which it is enveloped, goes by the popular 

 name of the "Woolly Bear 1" A figure of this 

 creature may be seen in plate B, fig. 5 a. This 

 creature is the larva of the common Tiger-moth, 

 which is represented on the same plate, fig. 5. 



