76 OF THE SENSES OF 
The limning spider, with adhesive line, 
Weayes his firm net immeasurably fine ; 
The wren, when embryon eggs her cares engross, 
Seeks the soft down, and lines the cradling moss ; 
Conscious of change, the silkworm nymphs begin, 
Attach’d to leaves, their gluten-threads to spin, 
Then, round and round they weave their circling heads, 
Sphere within sphere, and form their silken beds, — 
Say, did these fine yolutions first commence 
From clear ideas of the tangent sense ? 
From sires to sons by imitation caught, 
Or in dumb language by tradition taught ? 
Or did they rise in some primeval site 
Of larva-gnat, or microscopic mite ; 
And, with instinctive foresight, still await 
On each vicissitude of insect state >— 
Wise to the present, nor to future blind, 
‘They link the reasoning reptile to mankind !— 
Stoop, selfish Pride! survey thy kindred forms— 
Thy brother emmets and thy sister worms! * 
OF TASTE, 
As in the sense of touch, analogy leaves us no 
grounds for supporting the doctrine of taste in insects ; 
for if the physiological distinctions in the higher 
animals were held up as tests, then it might be in- 
ferred, a priori, that insects had no taste; for in 
place of the organs being soft, moist, and furnished 
withinnumerablepapille, their tongues arerigid, dry, 
and hard. There, however, can be but little doubt 
that they do enjoy this sense in a considerable degree, 
* Danwin’s Temple of Nature, p. 119. 
