TIMES, PLACES, AND SEASONS FOR COLLECTING. 2G9 



of distinct species of insects. He first took the 

 number of the indigenous plants of France, few of 

 which can now remain unknown, and they amounted 

 to 7,194" ; while the insects of the same country 

 amounted to the number of 15,000 known species. 

 Then, estimating the total number of species of 

 plants in the world, from our present knowledge, at 

 100,000 to 120,000, he found that, following the same 

 relative proportion, the calculation would establish 

 the total number of insects at aboiit 300,000. We may, 

 therefore, as well be contented at once with a small 

 number of experiments in our little Vivarium, see- 

 ing that the inmates selected will be all the better 

 off for not being over-crowded. 



Many opinions exist as to the relative advan- 

 tages or disadvantages of this vast world of insect 

 life. Guilio Cordera, in a work on the subject, gravely 

 informs us that they were created for our annoyance 

 and punishment, after our expulsion from Paradise ; 

 and that they did not exist in the garden of Eden. 

 Others, however, look upon them from an entirely 

 opposite view, assuring us that they are intended 

 for the exclusive benefit and enjoyment of man, so 

 soon as he shall be wise enough to understand their 

 uses ; and the account to which we have turned the 

 cocoon of the Silk-worm and the dye of the Cochi- 



