OF INSECTS IN GENERAL. 
353 
duce of the vegetable kingdom ; not a few, it muft be 
allowed, are a If) fullamed by devouring animal food. 
Between thefe two fpecies of nouriftiment there is a wide 
difference ; and infefts afford a fpecies of nutrim it 
which 'eems to partake fomewhat of the nature of both, 
and v.'hich iupplies tfie wants of an infinite number of 
creatures wliofe conititutions are not wholly adapted to 
either. Many kinds of birds live upon hardly any other 
food. What a blank in the feathered race would enfue. 
Were this copious fource of provifion fliut up from that 
part of the animal kingdom ! The fiihes feem ftill more 
dependent on the fupplies afforded by thofe numerous 
tribes of infe£b that either float upon the water, or are 
feen hovering over its furface. The whale, the largefl 
of nature’s animated offspring, as we have already had 
occafion to obferve, is fupported folely by an infeed; which 
it finds floating upon the waves. Among this clafs alio, 
an inconceivable diminution of numbers would neceffari- 
ly enfue, were the food of infeds denied to the inhabi- 
tants of the water. Farther, many of the larger infers 
prey upon the fmaller ; all thefe, as well as the different 
animals they fupport, muft be unavoidably ftruck out of 
the family of nature the moment this fpecies of fupport 
is withheld. 
By means of the food of infefts, therefore, a large pro- 
portion of the fuperior ranks of animated beings are fup- 
ported, all which would of neceflity perilh, were this 
order of animals deftroyect. What a dreadful chafm in 
the works of nature would the annihilation of a clafs of 
beings occafion, which of itfelf conilitutes fo large a pro- 
portion of her living productions, and which preferves the 
(ixiftence of fo many more ! The air, the earth, and the 
fea, which, according to the prefent fyftem, teem with 
V°L. Ill, y y |tfp| 
