INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED PROM INSECTS. 277 



stroyers to which we are chiefly indebted : but we are in 

 another point of view under nearly equal obligations to 

 the destroyed ; for they are insects, either wholly or in 

 part, that form the food of some of our most esteemed 

 fishes, and of birds that are not more valuable to us as 

 articles for the table, than as the songsters that enliven 

 our groves. But before proceeding to the details which 

 this view of the subject involves, I ought not to omit 

 pointing out to you that many quadrupeds, which though 

 not all of direct utility to us are doubtless of importance 

 in the scale of being, derive a considerable part of their 

 subsistence from insects. 



The harmless hedgehog and the mole, to begin at the 

 lower end of the series, are both said to be insectivorous a ; 

 the latter devouring large quantities of the wire-worms. 

 The greedy swine will root up whole acres in search of 

 the grubs of cockchafers, of which they are very fond ; 

 and perhaps the good they do is greater than the^a.rm, 

 if their attack be confined to grass that having be% Un- 

 dermined by these grubs would soon die : they also dig 

 up the larvae of the destructive Tettigonia septendecim, 

 called the American locust b , on which, when in their 

 perfect state, the squirrels are said to grow fat c . The 

 badger, Lesser informs us, will eat beetles ; and its kins- 

 man the bear has the character of being very fond of ants 

 and of honey; which last is also said to be a favourite arti- 

 cle with the fox, who has sometimes the audacity to over- 

 turn bee-hives, and even to attack wasps' nests in search 

 of it. He will also eat beetles. 



Sparrman has given an amusing account of the honey- 



a Bingley, il. 374. b Ibid. Hi, 2J. 



" Collinson in Philos. Trans, 1 763. 



