ENTOM 
tiles; others fly like birds, while others again fwim, and 
live in the water, like fifhes. Entomology, therefore, of 
all the departments of natural hiflory, prefents the wideft 
field for invertigation. The number of experiments and 
obfervations necelfary to furnifli a complete hiflory of fo 
many tribes of animals, is not only great, but the diffi¬ 
culty of making them is alfo immenfe. The number of 
ideas with which a fkilfill botanift mud load his memory, 
before he can acquire an accurate knowledge of plants, 
is no doubt great: his talk, however, bears no proportion 
to that of the entomologifl ; for, amidft fo many plants, 
there is perhaps hardly one that does not furnifli nourifh- 
ment and an habitation to feveral infects; while many, 
inch as the oak, afford a retreat for lome hundreds of dif¬ 
ferent families. Plants, however, are far from being the 
only abode of infedts ; vaft numbers refide upon the larger 
animals, whom they continually fuck ; many live upon 
and devour others of their own kind : the earth fwarms 
with multitudes, while the air teems with others, too 
»umerotts for the imagination to conceive ! 
But though a complete hiflory of this large and popu¬ 
lous part of nature’s empire cannot be expected ; yet, 
fuch a general outline may be given, as fliall demonftrate 
the exiftence of that great vivifying principle by which 
fhe is animated, and by which (he is enabled continually 
to pour forth into exiftence fuch immenfe numbers of or¬ 
ganized beings. Such an enquiry will prefent to us a 
pleating view of that protection which Providence affords 
even to the fmalleft of its creatures ; of the means it em¬ 
ploys for perpetuating them ; and of that wonderful ar¬ 
rangement by which one fet of beings fubfift upon ano¬ 
ther, and by which life is renovated and held on through 
every part of the creation, without a paufe. It is there¬ 
fore extraordinary that the ftudy of entomology fhould 
have been deemed an employment the moft ufelefs and 
frivolous in which the human mind can be engaged : and 
it is to be lamented that many have been in confequence 
deterred from contemplating the wonders difplayed by 
nature, in a kingdom of animals the moft numerous, di- 
verfified, and fplendidly adorned, of any on the face of the 
globe; and hence have deprived themfelves of views of 
the pow er and munificence of the Author of Nature, the 
moft ftriking and interefting that can be prefented to the 
mind of man. 
To thofe, however, who even derive no pleafure from 
the (Indies of a liberal mind, and who feel no fatisfadlion in 
any employment that is not attended with immediate pro¬ 
fit, the refearches of the entomologifl may not be altoge¬ 
ther ufelefs. Had the operations of the filkworm never 
been examined, how could men have availed themfelves 
of the labour of an infect that adminifters fo profufely to 
the richnefs and elegance of our drefs ? It was not to the 
unobferving eye that it fil'd occurred, that the produce of 
that animal’s labour might be converted into a confidera- 
ble article of commerce, and might give rife to many arts, 
and afford fubfiftence to thoufands of manufacturers. In 
the fame manner, wax and honey enter into the articles of 
commerce, and add to our luxuries. It cannot, there¬ 
fore, be denied, but that thofe naturalifts were profitably 
employed who firft obferved the induftry of the bee ; who 
brought that animal from its native woods, introduced it 
into the hive, and, by domefticating it there, have render¬ 
ed it fubfervient to our enjoyments. 
The Chinefe, whofe progrefs in many of the arts is de- 
fervedly-celebrious, avail themfelves of the labours of 
certain infedts in procuring a rich dye, and an elegant 
varnifh, which is provided by a certain fpecies of winged 
ant. Our fined red colours are alfo furnifhed by infedts. 
The cochineal infedt, the extenfive advantages of which 
have been long known, is propagated with care, and in 
vaft numbers, in the kingdom of Mexico, and in many 
parts of South America. See the article Coccus, vol. iv. 
p.721-724, and the correfponding engraving. The kernes, 
or grain of fcarlet, which was formerly imagined to be 
one of the galls or excrefcences that are feen on Ihrubs, i 
VoLe VI. No. 394. 
O L O G Y. 825 
now found to be an infedt, which attaches itfelf in that 
form to a fpecies of the oak. 
The medical ufes of the infeCt tribes are alfo far from 
being inconfidcrable ; and to thefe objects they have long 
been applied. The valuable purpofes to which the cantha- 
rides has been made fubfervient, will alone vindicate the 
utility of thofe refearches which have been made concern¬ 
ing this part of the animal kingdom. There are dill 
other ufes to which infedts have been applied, and that 
from the moft remote antiquity, which appear of a curious 
and Angular nature. Even before the time of Theo- 
phraftus and of Pliny, certain kinds of them were employ¬ 
ed in ripening the figs throughout the iflands of the Ar¬ 
chipelago ; and it appears from Tournefort, that the fame 
practice dill fubfifts among the inhabitants of thofe iflands. 
There are two kinds of figs cultivated around the Medi¬ 
terranean ; the wild, and the domeftic. The former 
produces fruit feveral times in the year; and in it are 
foftered certain worms, which are afterwards transformed 
into fmall flies. It is by the afliftance of thefe little ani¬ 
mals that the domeftic fig is brought to maturity, which 
would otherwife drop from the tree in an unripe date. 
During the months of June and July, the peafants are 
bufily employed in collecting fuch of the wild figs as 
abound moft with thefe infeCts, and in placing them near 
the cultivated fig, that they may co-operate with nature in 
bringing it to maturity. Similar purpofes are effected 
by our gardeners in England, who employ the bees on 
their firft coming, and (hut them into the frames, to 
transfer the prolific farina of the male bloffom to that of 
the female, whereby fructification is infured, and early 
cucumbers produced. 
But there are other inducements to the ftudy of ento¬ 
mology, of a nature wholly different from thofe already 
mentioned; inducements, founded not on any hope of pe¬ 
cuniary advantage, but of alleviating or preventing the 
numerous mifehiefs they occafion. Infinite fwarms of 
infedts annually defolate whole provinces; others attack 
our gardens and cultivated grounds, where they commit 
endlefs devafhtions upon the corn, vegetables, and fruit 
trees. Nor are their depredations confined to the fields ; 
they even enter the habitations of man, pierce the found- 
eft bottoms of (hips, and by deftroying the timbers gra¬ 
dually reduce them to ruin. They injure his books and 
furniture, and deflroy his clothing ; fome of them fpare 
not even his perfon, tormenting it long before the period 
which nature has deftined it to become their legitimate 
prey. Here, then, by aclofer examination of the deftruc- 
tive powers of infeCts, we (hall have melancholy proofs 
of their importance in the fyftem of nature, and be per- 
fuaded that however trifling they may appear, there is no 
clafs of animals whofe hiflory more nearly concerns us, 
and which better deferves the attention of the naturalift. 
There are tour different fpecies of the locuft which are 
remarkably deftrudtive. Almoft every year, whole pro¬ 
vinces, the moft fertile in Ada and Africa, are laid w afte 
by their depredation. In Tunis and Algiers, fwarms of 
the gryl.'ns rnigratorius appear fo numerous, that they 
darken the face of the fky, like a threatening cloud. 
Thefe pernicious animals are wafted there by the fouther- 
ly winds in the month of April. In May they take their 
departure for the interior parts of the country, to propa¬ 
gate their young ; thefe make their appearance in their 
larva or caterpillar (late, during the month of June, when 
they commit vaft depredations. The firft columns, which 
pervade the country like an army, deftroy every green 
ftirub and pile of grafs; and their devaftation has not 
ceafed, when they are fucceeded by other fwarms, that 
prefs upon tlfeir rear, devouring the tender branches and 
(talks of plants, which their forerunners had left. This 
dreadful vifitation, which the language of feripture has 
juftly deferibed as a plague, does not terminate till the 
infeCts have paffed into their winged date, when they fly 
off, leaving the whole furface of the earth naked and 
brown P as if fcorched by fire.—See the article G&yllus, 
10 A with 
