DESIGNS OF NATURE 
204 
it is particularly disgusting ; not only from its magni- 
tude and smell, but from its color, which is a lurid red, 
so compounded with a dingy yellow, as to give it a 
lividness of look, conveying the idea of something raw. 
Common as the grub is in some years, I have seldom 
been able to obtain the moth, without the often tedious 
process of feeding the larvae, and waiting for its change. 
Of those caterpillars which feed upon the foliage of 
vegetation, a considerable portion are picked off and 
consumed by the numerous little birds which are con- 
stantly hunting after them, as food for themselves or 
their young ones ; and many of those which are sup- 
ported by the roots of plants, and remain covered in 
the soil, are detected by the perception of rooks, and 
birds of that order ; but those which feed upon the in- 
ternal parts of trees seem exempted from any of these 
causes of destruction. This is possibly a reason that 
the larvse of phalaena cossus is so plentifully found ; but 
yet it is pretty certain that some other and equally fatal 
visitation assails them, and reduces their numbers 
during the long period which is required to perfect 
their state : for though, by feeding and care, (for they 
are very impatient of confinement,) we can obtain the 
moth in numbers, yet few seem to survive and become 
perfected by the common processes of nature, at least 
I have seldom found them in this state, though the larvae 
is so plentifully seen. 
The designs of supreme intelligence in the creation 
and preservation of the insect world, and the regula- 
tions and appointments whereby their increase or de- 
crease is maintained, and periodical appearance pre- 
scribed, are among the most perplexing considerations 
of natural history. That insects are kept in reserve for 
stated seasons of action, we know, being commonly 
made the agents of Providence in his visitations of 
mankind. The locust, the caterpillar, the palmer-worm, 
the various family of blights, that poison in the spring 
all the promise of the year, are insects. Mildew, indeed, 
is a vegetable ; but the wireworm destroys the root, the 
thrips the germ of the wheat, and hunger and famine 
ensue. Many of the coleopteras remove nuisances, others 
