LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
LETTER II. 
MY DEAR HARRIET, 
As it is a common error to sup- 
pose that because things are small, they are of no 
importance, and as perhaps you may be of this 
opinion, I will endeavour to convince you that 
it is wrong ; and therefore I will tell you some 
of the harm they can do when permitted. If 
they had no checks, we, and all the larger ani- 
mals, should soon be driven from the earth, and 
insects of all kinds reign paramount. This is 
no exaggeration, as you will perceive, when I 
disclose but a small part of their destructive 
powers. 
Nothing is free from them — neither the cun- 
ning, the swiftness, the strength, the ferocity, 
nor the bulk of animals can protect them ; even 
man himself is sometimes their prey. They are 
often swallowed, and, living in the inside, cause 
mortal diseases. Some people have even been 
devoured alive, as it were, by swarms of mites, 
for which there was no remedy. Among oui* 
personal assailants we may notice the red Acarus, 
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