84 
NATURAL HISTORY OR 
The purposes which some of these peculiarities 
of structure were designed to serve are sufficiently 
apparent ; but in the greater number of cases we can 
scarcely form a conjecture as to their use. Much of 
the variety of form which these insects present, is no 
doubt the necessary result of their being destined to 
subserve so many different purposes in the economy 
of nature. The configuration of each individual spe- 
cies is that which adapts it best to fulfil the various 
ends of its being ; and this connection between figure 
and function is so strikingly displayed in the case 
of many insects with which we are well acquainted, 
that we are authorized to presume its existence when 
their habits are unknown to us. A more intimate 
acquaintance with these habits, would doubtless ex- 
plain the utility of many a remarkable form and fan- 
tastical assemblage of horns and prominences, which 
our present imperfect knowledge might lead us to 
regard as unnecessary or even cumbrous, and would 
enable us to appreciate more fully the wisdom — 
“ wonderful in counsel and excellent in working”— 
that has presided over the organization of these lowly 
beings, and taught them to work its will. At the 
same time it may reasonably be supposed that use- 
fulness to the individual is not always the object in 
view : the production of a pleasing variety may have 
been as much the design of the creating mind in 
the present instance, as it appears to have been in 
giving a particular form and character to the leaves 
and foliage of different trees, although the functions 
