INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 19 



Providence. That of the innumerable species of these 

 beings, many of them beyond conception fragile and ex- 

 posed to dangers and enemies without end, no link 

 should be lost from the chain, but all be maintained in 

 those relative proportions necessary for the general good 

 of the system ; that if one species for a while prepon- 

 derate, and instead of preserving seem to destroy, yet 

 counterchecks should at the same time be provided to 

 reduce it within its due limits; and further, that the 

 operations of insects should be so directed and overruled 

 as to effect the purposes for which they were created 

 and never exceed their commission : nothing can furnish 

 a stronger proof than this, that an unseen hand holds 

 the reins, now permitting one to prevail and now an- 

 other, as shall best promote certain wise ends ; and say- 

 ing to each, " Hitherto shalt thou come and no further." 



So complex is this mundane system, and so incessant 

 the conflict between its component parts, an observation 

 which holds good particularly with regard to insects, 

 that if instead of being under such control it were left to 

 the agency of blind chance, the whole must inevitably 

 soon be deranged and go to ruin. Insects, in truth, are 

 a book in which whoever reads under proper impres- 

 sions cannot avoid looking from the cause to the effect, 

 and acknowledging his eternal power and godhead thus 

 wonderfully displayed and irrefragably demonstrated: 

 and whoever beholds these works with the eyes of the 

 body, must be blind indeed if he cannot, and perverse 

 indeed if he will not, with the eye of the soul behold in 

 all his glory the Almighty Workman, and feel disposed, 

 with every power of his nature, to praise and magnify 

 " Him first, Him last, Him midst, Him without end," 

 C 2 



