kV INSECTS IN GENERAL. 
349 
Sect. VI. — Of the Habitation and Food of Infe&s, and 
their Ufes in the Economy of Nature. 
It has been afferted by Arijlotle, that every kind of qua* 
druped and bird was inhabited by its peculiar infeft * ; 
and this affertion, which has never been contradi&ed, 
feems to admit of being much extended. We have al- 
ready feen, in a former part of this work, that the fal- 
rjnon and cod were at certain feafons infelled with infects ; 
the fame is probably the cafe with many other fpecies of 
the finny tribe, whpfe hiflory is lefs completely known. 
Some particular animals afford food and refidence to dif- 
ferent kinds of infe£ts ; and the fame is the cafe with 
plants. As one animal is often feen to feed upon and 
inhabit a great many different plants ; fo the fame plant 
often fupports a variety of infe&s. The oak, in this 
country, affords fuftenaijce to twenty different fpecies of 
thefe animals ; and thete are varieties of this tree in 
warmer climates, that ferve for food to a far greater 
number. 
Plants afford themofl general and copious pabulum for 
this tribe of the animal Kingdom. Wherever any infeft 
is found indigenous in a country, there will always be 
found in it plants accommodated to its wants. There 
are many infers attached uniformly to one plant ; the 
Elk worm always gives a decided preference to the mul- 
berry, 
* Hiftoria Animalium, 
