170 The Balance of Nature. [April, 
greedily as the cockchafer and the mole-cricket. The 
weasel will assassinate his fellow insedt-hunter, the mole, 
just as readily as the rat or the field-mouse. Many natu- 
ralists would pronounce the stork useful ; but no small part 
of his time and attention are devoted to catching and 
swallowing the frog — one of our best friends. The hedge- 
hog kills vipers and noxious insedts, and also beneficial 
ones. The small birds capture the destructive cabbage 
butterfly, and pick its caterpillars from our fields and 
gardens, and in so doing they merit well ; but they quite as 
eagerly destroy the “ red admiral,” the “ painted lady,” and 
the “ peacock,” which help to keep down noxious weeds. 
Our feathered friends also, when opportunity offers, make a 
meal of the dragonfly, who in his adult state is zealous as 
the swallow in clearing the air of winged vermin, and in his 
earlier and aquatic condition is no less useful in devouring 
the larvse of the gnat. All carnivorous inserts which in- 
habit the water merit especial protection. The ladybird 
helps to rid our fruit-trees, our hop-gardens, and our rosaries 
of the loathsome aphis, but whilst engaged in this good 
work it is devoured by the very birds which we are advised 
to spare and shelter. The ichneumons and other parasitic 
inseCts are praised for keeping down caterpillars ; yet here 
again harmless and useful species are attacked quite as fre- 
quently as those which are noxious. 
Thus our animal allies, like riotous and ill-disciplined 
troops, exchange blows with each other when they ought to 
present a front to the common enemy. 
Another point remains : we talk of carnivorous and 
herbivorous species, but in multitudes of cases the diet of 
animals is by no means so rigidly defined as is commonly 
supposed : they have their preferences, but rather than 
starve they are generally ready to adopt a substitute. 
Cows in Norway are known to partake of herrings in the 
winter, and in milder climates they are decidedly fond of 
mumbling a bone. What creature is more decidedly pre- 
datory than a spider ? Yet when “ sugaring ” for moths, 
at night, we have more than once seen a grim spider sitting 
at the edge of the mixture and apparently sucking it up. 
We have also met with a Carahus, one of the most car- 
nivorous of beetles, similarly engaged, and profiting by the 
hint we fed one of the same species, in captivity, upon bits 
of apple. From time to time we hear of a bloodthirsty 
freak on the part of some beast or bird generally considered 
a pure vegetarian. Indeed how many orders, or even fami- 
lies, can we find which do not count among their members 
