OF INSECTS IN GENERAL, 
32 <> 
Sect. III . — A comparative view of the Senfes and En » 
dowments of InfeEls , with thofe of other Animals. 
The more clofely we examine this clafs of the animal 
kingdom, the greater number of furprifmg fa&s and 
wonderful inftiucts {hall we find, to indcmmiy us for 
thofe large portions of the marvellous, of which we lb all 
often be obliged to diveft their hiftory. Many entymo- 
iogifts, it muft be allowed, particularly thofe who wrote 
in the earlier ftageS of this fcience, before philofophy 
had thrown much light upon tlje operations of nature, 
from a defire ef filling the reader with the fame admira- 
tion which they themfelves felt, have much oftener had 
recourfe to the marvellous, than can either be juftified 
by fadls or obfervation. Thofe eulogies which we find 
fo frequently beftowed, without meafure, upon the in- 
telligence of certain infefts, afford pregnant evidence of 
this indifcretion. There is hardly any kind of know- 
ledge, endowment, or even moral virtue, of which feme 
or other of them has not been faid to be poffeffed. They 
have been made to act and think like men ; and fome- 
times have been celebrated for accompliihments of which 
few of thefe lords of the creation can bcalt ; and all this 
on the mod puerile and falfe foundations. For example, 
there is a fpecies of the mantis, with long limbs, and of 
an uncommon appearance ; and becaufe this animal is 
frequently feen in an ereft polture, having the two fore 
legs 
