1840.] 



Himalayas and of India, 



127 



differences will ever be so slight, that we cannot separate or distiuauish 

 them in the imago state with any degree of certainty. But whether they 

 be accounted species, or only varieties, we see the grand object of their 

 creation, in their fitness for performing certain functions which are 

 assigned them ; one of these is, to keep in check the hixuriance of 

 vegetation and to restrain it within due limits ; another may be, that 

 these puny agents may fecundate the flowers, by carrying the fertilizing 

 pollen from tree to tree, and thus be the means, in one case, of promoting 

 vegetation, as- in another they are the agents of its destruction. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL CHARACTER or INDIA. 

 From the foregoing Analysis, I have no hesitation in asserting that 

 the pervading character of Indian Entomology is uniformity. It is true 

 that we meet with numerous genera, both of tropical and temperate 

 climes, associated together ; the former more abundant, the latter less 

 frequent (as we might naturally expect) than in the Himayalas. There 

 is, however, a greater intermingling of forms than at first ^iglit would be 

 readily imagined ; but when we take into our consideration, that many 

 of the species resembling those of Europe may have been captured on 

 the mountain ranges, at a considerable elevation, we may partly account 

 for it. This attempted explanation, however, is not always available or 

 satisfactory," for in the heated valleys of the East, we find many Euro- 

 pean types and species, in numbers sufficient to excite our astonishment. 

 It will appear, then, that many species taken in temperate and northern 

 climes, are not confined to them, and that the range they enjoy is very 

 considerable, extending not only over the Old World, but also to the 

 New. As we advance from the Poles to the Equator, vegetation is more 

 luxuriant, in proportion as heat increases, and the quantity of work as- 

 signed to Insect races is proportionately increased. Is it not natural to 

 imagine that the functions performed by them in a colder climate, would 

 in a warmer one require increased exertion and capabilities ? It does not 

 follow, because we find new types of form in tropical countries, and new 

 genera of superior bulk and power, and more abundant in individuals, 

 that therefore they necessarily replace the old ones, and are to perform 

 the duties peculiar to both regions ; both may live and thrive together, 

 and abound in the same countries, and will eventually be found to do so. 

 When the genera of temperate climes appear within the Tropics, I see 

 no reason why they may not have the same functions assigned them there, 

 as in colder latitudes ; but when we find new types of form, and a more 

 powerful organization, with the size of the Insects greatly increased (as 



