OS' INSECTS IN GENERA!. 
3of» 
bers that defy all computation : For in nothing does the" 
immenfity of her works more ftrikingly appear, than in 
the infinite number and variety of thofe her fmaller pro- 
du&ions. 
Entymology, therefore, of all the fctences, prefents the 
wideft field for inveftigation. The number of experi- 
ments and obfervations neceffary to furnilh a complete 
hiftory of fo many fmall animals, is not only great ; but 
the difficulty of making them is alfo immerrfe. The 
number of ideas with which a lkilful botanift mull load 
his memory, before he can acquire an accurate know- 
ledge of above two thoufand plants, is no doubt great : 
his talk, however, bears no proportion to that of the en- 
tymologift ; for, amidft fo many plants, there is perhaps 
hardly one that does not furnilh nourilhment and an ha- 
bitation to feveral infe£ls ; while many, fuch as the oak, 
afford a retreat for Come hundreds of different fpecies *. 
Thefe plants, however, are far from being the only abode 
of infe&s ; vaft numbers refidc upon the larger animals, 
whom they continually fuck ; many live upon and de- 
vour others of their own order. Infinite numbers fpend 
a part of their lives in the water ; others remain there 
entirely: The earth fwarms with multitudes; and the 
air teems with others, too fmall for the human eye to 
ohferve, and too numerous for the imagination to con- 
ceive ! 
While the numbers of this clafs of the animal king- 
dom thus exceed all cur powers of conception, its varie- 
ties are alfo multiplied to a degree that renders a complete 
diferimination of them equally impoffible. The different 
fpecies 
* Mem. pour fervir a 1'Hift. dcs InfeSs, par Reamure, Tome pritr- 
sags S. 
