KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



83 



fountains and streams of water ; should cover 

 it with a soil capable of affording sufficient 

 nutriment to trees and plants, which should 

 in their turn afford food for some part of the 

 animal kingdom, and finally for man himself. 

 How evidently does all this show the adap- 

 tation of means to an end ! What a number 

 of calculations must be made, what a number 

 of contingencies provided against, what a 

 number of conflicting elements made to har- 

 monise and subserve to the promotion of a 

 common purpose, which it is impossible 

 could have been effected but by the inter- 

 vention and constant guidance of an unseen 

 Being — causing all things so to concur as to 

 bring about and establish what he designs! 

 And, when Ave further consider the multi- 

 plicity of aspects in which the subject must 

 be viewed, in order to get a clear and 

 correct idea of the co-operation of so many 

 causes, seeming often at variance with each 

 other, we may further affirm, without fear of 

 contradiction, that the whole must be the 

 plan and the work, as the primary and only 

 intelligent cause, of a Being infinite in 

 power, wisdom, and goodness. 



There are two circumstances in the above 

 account of the proceedings of these animals, 

 that more particularly demonstrate Divine 

 interposition. One is the precaution to 

 which they have recourse when they build a 

 circular reef in the sea. that they leave an 

 opening in this part for the entrance of the 

 tide and its reilux, so that a constant reno- 

 vation of the waters takes place, without 

 which they could not proceed in their ope- 

 rations for want of their necessary aliment. 



The other is, not only that they erect their 

 buildings in the form best calculated to 

 resist the action of the ocean, but also erect 

 break-waters to strengthen the weakest 

 points, and those from which the greatest 

 danger is to be apprehended. 



It is clear that beings so little organised, 

 with scarcely any sense or feeling, are not 

 sufficient of themselves to take these pre- 

 cautions ; they must be directed and impelled 

 by some power acting upon them ; which, 

 foreseeing the want, provides for it ; this can 

 be no physical power, for that is equally 

 without intelligence, and acts necessarily, 

 but it must be the result of the will and ori- 

 ginal action of Supreme Intelligence, who 

 either so organised the animal as to direct it 

 to certain acts, when placed in certain cir- 

 cumstances, by the agency of physical 

 powers ; or by his own immediate employ- 

 ment of these powers, influenced its action, 

 as the occasion required. 



Seed-time and Harvest. — There is no 

 summer hut it has a winter. He never reaped 

 comfort in his adversity, who sowed it not in 

 prosperity. 



POPULAR SCIENCE. 



THE ICHNEUMON. 



In the il Naturalist " No. 17, are some very 

 interesting remarks on this little creature, 

 whose instinct deserves the closest attention. 

 They are contained in an article on the sub- 

 ject by E. Maysmor, Esq., of Devizes, who 

 has handled the subject admirably. As he 

 expresses himself very anxious to learn 

 more touching this inquiry, and is desirous 

 of receiving testimony from personal obser- 

 vation, we rejoice in being able to assist 

 in the good cause, by giving still more ex- 

 tended publicity to the ascertained facts. 

 Before doing this, however, we beg to direct 

 the especial attention of our readers to this 

 little monthly periodical, — the " Naturalist." 

 It is a work that should be universally taken 

 in by all who delight in the investigation of 

 truth, and the record of new and pleasing 

 facts in the animal, vegetable, and mineral 

 kingdoms. The same remark applies to the 

 other three works, belonging to the same 

 proprietary, viz. :— the " History of British 

 Birds ;" the " Nests and Eggs of Birds ;" 

 and the " History of British Butterflies." 

 All these works are richly and faithfully 

 illustrated by engravings. The " Naturalist" 

 is conducted by Dr. Morris, of York ; the 

 other three serials by the Kev. F. 0. 

 Morris, of Driffield, Yorkshire. The price 

 of these respective books renders them ac- 

 cessible to all. 



The subject in the " Naturalist," to which 

 we now direct attention, is the Piercing of 

 Insects in the Pupa State by the Ichneumon. 



" Perhaps," says Mr. Maysmor, " a few 

 quotations from authors upon the general 

 habits of Ichneumons may not be uninter- 

 esting to your readers : — 



In speaking of the service of the Ichneumon 

 Flies in staying the encroachments of the Wheat 

 Midge, the Rev. Edwin Sidney, in " Blights of 

 the Wheat," says, " Their peculiar instinct is to 

 lay their eggs in other living insects, mostly when 

 they are in the larva state. Sometimes they ovi- 

 posit in chrysalides, and occasionally in eggs, 

 but never, it is believed, in any insect while in a 

 perfect condition. The object of their eggs being 

 thus laid is, that they may under these circum- 

 stances, which are favorable to their nature, 

 hatch into grubs. These grubs or maggots soon 

 commence attacking the living substances in 

 which they are placed, and ultimately destroy 

 them. The instinct of these extraordinary crea- 

 tures leads them to the most complete regulation 

 of the number of their eggs by the size of the 

 victim in each case, and that of the larvse to 

 which they are to give birth. Sometimes they 

 lay a single egg where there is only enough for 

 the support of its grub, but the numbers vary 

 from one to a large quantity. There is scarcely 

 an insect in existence that is not more or less 

 subject to this species of attack ; and the Ichneu- 



