HABITS OF THE ADEPHAGA. 
343 
tionary , says ,— u The assertion of Aristotle, that the Cuckoo sometimes builds 
among broken rocks and on high mountains, and a similar remark quoted from 
Nxphus, by Gesner, are no more to be trusted than his story of the Redbreast 
being annually changed into a Redstart ; or of the Cuckoo itself being nothing 
but a metamorphosed Sparrow Hawk, while, immediately after this change, it is 
so weak, that the Kite is obliging enough to carry it on its back ! !! So grossly 
are the commonest facts misrepresented, when not observed with scrupulous 
accuracy!” Singularly enough, moreover, even in modern times, the nest of the 
Nightjar has been more than once mistaken for that of the Cuckoo, which latter 
bird, it is well known, builds no nest at all. 
But my paper fails me, and I must resume my notes, if agreeable to your 
readers, at a future opportunity. 
Canterbury , Feb. 10, 1839. 
A GLANCE AT THE HABITS OF THE ADEPHAGA * 
By- Peter Rylands, Esq. 
Although the insect kingdom attracts a tolerable degree of passing notice and 
admiration from the lords of the creation, Entomology must be ranked amongst 
the most unpopular sciences. Man suffers himself to be biassed greatly by im¬ 
pressions alike destitute of reason and propriety. He cannot free himself from 
the feeling of contempt for little objects, and consequently despises a study having 
reference chiefly to minute animals.f—Astronomy, which fills the mind with vast 
ideas of the extent of the universe,—peoples the space above us with innumerable 
suns having distinct planetary systems—with 
“ Worlds on worlds in phalanx deep 
and gives existence to amazing notions of distance, extent, and greatness,— 
appeals strongly to the wonder of the ignorant, gratifies exceedingly open-mouthed 
audiences of aspirants to wisdom, and consequently becomes a popular study, 
* Intended as a continuation to the paper on the Classification of the Adephaga which appeared 
in November ( Naturalist , IV., 73), 
4 “ To the eye of the naturalist,” says Latreille, “ the mass or volume of an object is of 
little consequence. The wisdom of the Creator never appears more conspicuous than in the 
structure of those minute beings which seem to conceal themselves from observation; and 
Almigh'ty Power is never more strikingly exhibited than in the concentration of organs in such 
an atom. In giving life to this atom, and constructing, in dimensions so minute, so many organs 
susceptible of different sensations, my admiration of the Supreme Intelligence is much more 
heightened than by the contemplation of the structure of the most gigantic animals.” 
