SPECIFIC VARIATION 



INSECTA. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



A VERY small amount of information gained by the 

 student in the field of Nature is sufficient to kiadle the 

 desire to increase it. The more we know, the more we 

 are anxious to know ; though the less we seem to know. 

 It is one of the distinctive privileges of the naturalist 

 that he has to labour in a mine which is inexhaustible : 

 the deeper he digs beneath the surface, the richer is the 

 vein for excavation, and the more interesting are the 

 facts which he brings successively to Hght. Dive he 

 ever so deep. Truth, " at the bottom of the well," is 

 assuredly present, under some form or other, to reward 

 Mm still; nor will she even for once elude his grasp, 

 provided he be content to receive her as she is, instead 

 of endeavouring to mould her to his preconceived ideas 



