OF INSECTS. 
259 
CHAP. XXXV. 
Of insects in general — Insects without Wings — The Spi- 
der — House , Garden , Wandering , Field, and Martinico 
Spiders— The Water Spider— The Tarantula — The 
Flea — The Louse — The Leaf Louse — The Bar; — The 
Wood Louse — The Water Flea — The Scorpion — 
The Crntipes — The G ally worm — The Leech. 
• I ( timuted bein 0 „, man offers the most wonderful 
variety in his internal conformation ; quadrupeds come 
next; and other animals follow in proportion to their 
powers or their excellencies. Insects seem, above all others 
the most imperfectly formed ; from their minuteness, the dis- 
secting knife can go but a short way in the investigation ; 
but one thing argues an evident imperfection : which is’ 
that many of them can live a long time, though deprived’ 
of those organs which are necessary to life in the higher 
tanks of nature. Many of them are furnished with lumrs 
and a heart like nobler animals; yet the caterpillar con. 
tinues to live, though its heart and lungs, which ir, often 
the case, are entirely eaten away. 
If insects be considered as bearing a relation to man, and 
as assisting him in the pleasures or necessities of life, they 
will, even in this respect, sink in the comparison with the 
'mger tribes of nature. It is true, that the bee, the silk- 
worm, the cochineal fly, and the catharides, render him 
s |gnal services ; but how many others of this class are 
Either noxious, or totally unserviceable to him. Even in 
t lese countries, where all the noxious animals have been 
'educed by repeated assiduity, the insect tribes still main- 
,ain their ground, and are but too often unwelcome in- 
truders upon the fruits of human industry. But, in more 
Uncultivated regions, their annoyance and devastations are 
terrible. What an uncomfortable life must the natives lead 
ju Lapland, and some parts of America, where, if a candle 
be lighted, the insects swarm in such abundance, as in- 
stantly to extinguish it with their numbers ; where the in- 
habitants are obliged to smear their bodies and faces with 
lui ' 5 or some other composition, to protect them from the 
Puncture of their minute enemies ; where, though millions 
a, c destroyed, famished millions are still seen to succeed, 
r n d to make the torture endless ! 
