170 
LIFE, IN ITS INTERMEDIATE FORMS. 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
Insecta (Insects). 
Continued. 
In Insects we perhaps roach the highest point of compa- 
rative perfection among invertebrate animals, whether we 
regard the condensation of their organs, the solidity of 
their skeleton, the consequent vigour and precision of 
their movemonts, the concentration of their nervous sys- 
tem, or the manifold intelligence which they display. 
That wonderful adaptation of means to ends, which, so 
often recurring as we study the instructive actions of 
animals, calls forth more than anything else our recogni- 
tion and praise of an all-wiso Creator, is nowhere more 
conspicuous than in Insects ; and is pre-eminently seen 
in what have been felicitously termed the architectural 
habits of such species as prepare habitations for them- 
selves, or protections for their offspring. 
Most of our readers are familiar with that exquisite 
solution of a geometrical problem*— the honeycomb. 
* IWaumur, the eminent French entomologist, proposed to II. KOnig, one of 
tlie ablest mathematicians of his day, the following problem “ Amongst all 
possible forms of hexagonal cells, taring- a pyramidal base composed of three 
similar and equal rhombs, to determine that which eoidd be constructed with 
the least expenditure of material.” Tho mathematician undertook the solu- 
