226 FOOD OF INSECTS, 
The vegetable feeders haye, for the most part, but little difficulty in sup- 
plying their wants. In the larva state they generally find themselves placed 
by the parent insect upon the very plant or substance which is to nourish 
them ; and in their perfect state their wings or feet afford a ready convey- 
ance to the banquet to which, by an unerring sense, they are directed. All 
nature lies before them, and it is only when their numbers are extraordi- 
narily increased, or in consequence of some unusual destruction of their 
appropriate aliment, that they perish for want. The description of their 
food renders unnecessary those artifices to which many of the carnivorous 
insects are obliged to have recourse ; and none of them, if we except the 
white ants, whose cunning mode of insinuating themselves into houses in 
tropical climates has been detailed in a former letter, can be said to use 
stratagem in obtaining their food. 
Of the carnivorous species, the greater proportion attack their prey 
by open violence ; such as the predaceous beetles, the Ichneumons, bur- 
rowing wasps, and true wasps; the preying insects (Mantis) ; the bugs 
(Geocorise Latr.) ; dragon flies (Libellulina), &c., which have been before 
adverted to. But a very considerable number, chiefly, however, of one 
tribe, that of spiders, provide their sustenance solely by artifice and 
stratagem, the singularity of which, and the admirable adaptation of the 
instruments by which they take their prey to the end in view, afford a 
most wonderful instance of the power and wisdom of the Creator, and 
have attracted admiration in all ages. A description of these, however, 
which will require a detailed survey, I must defer i another letter. 
am, &c. 
