Locust and of the Grasshopper at once shew their propensity to leaping The Bee, in danger of being robbed of its precious stores, is armed with its well known weapon. The female wasp is larger and stronger than the male, to enable her to survive the rigour of winter-and the strong hairy legs of the Ant are no less well contrived to assist her in the indefatigable labours of the hill, than the two claws with which they are armed are for the purpose of climbing. How surprising the instinct by which those little creatures are taught uniformly to deposit their eggs on such animal or vegetable substances, as furnish a proper and plentiful supply of food for the worms or caterpillars, as soon as they are hatched*., That those who pass into the Chrysalis or inactive state, select the most proper situations. and modes of concealment; and that others, whose only metamorphosis consists in the addition of wings, surround themselves while undergoing the change by an envelope of spume or froth proceeding from their body. "The Locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them in bands ;" while the solitary Spider having no wings to go in pursuit of her prey weaveth to herself a web, and watches with patience the entanglement of the fly.-Time will not permit me to dwell on the geometrical precision and VOL. II. mathematical Ꮓ though this troublesome little creature has neither beak nor mouth, it is furnished with a trunk or hollow sucker, which it insinuates in to a pore of the skin, and then, by means of a glass, the blood may be discovered through the transparent skin, rushing like a torrent through the head into the stomach-Its antennæ or horns, placed before the eyes, are each divided into five joints to make them more pliable; each of the legs is armed at the end with a large and smaller claw, which enable them to take hold of such objects as they approach, and assist them in climbing, while the bristly hairs, projecting from different parts of the body, serve, by their intermixing with those of the human head to secure it in its situation, and prevent its being easily dislodged. Is it possible that any creature could be better formed for its place of abode and bloody propensities, than this frightful little animal? *The White Butterfly lays its eggs in cabbage leaves. + Some, as the Silk-worm, spin webs or cords about their bodiessome leave the plants on which they fed, and hide themselves in little cells-some retire into the holes of walls or decayed trees, and some suspend themselves to the twigs of trees, with their head downward. ✦ As the Cuckoo spit, or Froth Worm. mathematical exactness, with which Bees form their combs; the wonderful ingenuity and contrivance of the Wasp's nest, or the order and regularity observed in the construction of the Ant-hill, as well as the prudence and foresight which the whole of these evince in their labours and pursuits; these, and the singular but convenient attitude which the Water-fly assumes in swimming on his back, to enable him the better to lay hold of his food, the under side of plants which grow on the water, I can only mention, and must proceed to consider a few of the USES OF INSECTS. From the number of animals in the different elements and regions of existence, which prey upon insects, there can be no doubt but the principal object the Creator had in view in the formation of these, was for the subsistence of many of the larger orders of creatures; but the following specimens serve to shew that some of these also contribute in no small degree, in their respective spheres, to the service of man. By the labours and exertions of the BEE we are provided with stores of honey and wax ;-the seemingly contemptible little SILK-WORM presents us, in its passage from the Caterpillar to the sleeping state, with materials for constituting our most costly raiment. From the Cantharis come the Spanish Flies, so useful in blisters—the Kermes is also valuable for medicinal purposes--and the COCHINEAL furnishes us with a rich and beautiful die.— The wonders accomplished by the united exertions of the Bees, the Wasps, and the Ants, shew what can be done by brethren dwelling together in unity.-The watchfulness of the Spider after she has woven her web, demonstrates the necessity of not folding our hands for slumber just at the time we have completed our preparations for activity; and to the Ant the sluggard is sent to learn a lesson of prudence and foresight. "These emmets, how little they are in our eyes! Yet, as wise as we are, if we went to their school, A lesson of wisdom might learn." *The treach'rous Spider, when her nets are spread, Even Even the metamorphosis of insects, or the progressive change they undergo from an inferior to a more perfect order of being, ought not to pass before the eye of reason without its improvement.-Does not this tend to remind us that here we have no continuing city, that this is not our place of abode; that when we lie down in our sleeping and inactive state in the dust, it is not there forever to remain, but that we may undergo a change, when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality; after which, with renovated powers, we shall burst the barriers of the tomb, and, in the strength of our Redeemer, ascend to a more exalted sphere, where, transformed into his glorious image, wc shall be like him, for we shall see him even as he is; where all sorrow and sighing shall forever flee away, and Death be swallowed up in victory. REPTILES. "Lo! the green Serpent, from his dark abode, At noon forth issuing, gathers up his train "Thro' subterraneous cells Where scorching sunbeams scarce can find a way, Wants not its soft inhabitants." In the order of Reptiles we have a new display of the wonders of creating art, and of the ease by which the SOVEREIGN LORD OF ALL can perform his will by instruments and means the most dissimilar. These creatures are also endowed with the power of motion, but how differently do they move from any of the orders we have already considered.-Deprived of the usual apparatus of legs or wings, the ponderous Serpent! issues from his concealment, and moves majestically along by means of his scales and strong muscular powers; and the slender Worm draws and pushes himself forward by his rings and contortions. The wisdom in these contrivances must be immediately apparent, when we consider that some of the former have their habitations assigned them Z 2 in in the most impenetrable thickets, where an elevated sta ture would expose them to many inconveniences.-Some take up their abode in the swampy banks of great rivers, or among the reeds in morasses, where the weight of their body, supported by legs, must have sunk them deeper in the mire; others wind their way among heaps of rubbish or crumbling ruins, where projecting appendages of any description would have been apt to retard their progress; and the naked and defenceless bodies of the latter are admirably adapted for those subterraneous passages, which they form to themselves unseen in the bowels of the earth. Snails also are a species of Reptiles, but being encumbered in their movements with their shelly appendage, they are furnished with an instrument peculiar to themselves, in that long broad surface by which they pull themselves along, and by which, assisted by the glutinous substance they emit from their bodies, they are enabled to adhere, in any position, to the smoothest of surfaces. The motion of Caterpillars in their vermicular state is curiously performed by means of a number of little legs, the foremost of which are differently constructed from the hindmost, but all are formed in the most suitable manner for assisting in their progress on the leaves of plants. Being deprived of those instruments of motion possessed by other animals, to carry them speedily forward in pursuit of their prey, Serpents are necessitated to have recourse to the resources of artifice, and to lie in wait for it; and, to enable them to do this to the best possible advantage, Nature has not only endowed them with the power of intwining themselves in ambush around the trunks and among the branches of trees by the slender make and flexibility of their bodies, but, by a very particular and singular construction of the back-bone in Serpents*, they are enabled to coil themselves up in a very small compass; and if they are not furnished with the claws of the Tiger to lay hold of their prey, the strong hooked bill and talons of the Eagle to pull it to pieces, and the tusks of the Boar to In the generality of animals, the joints in the back-bone do not exceed thirty or forty; but in the serpent kind they amount from 145 from the head to the vent, and 25 more from that to the tail. to devour it, several of this species are furnished with a poisonous sting for instantaneously inflicting the mortal wound, others are soon enabled to extinguish the vital spark by means of the convulsive energy of their enormous twistings; while the general conformation of the jaws, the width of the mouth, and yielding texture of the bodies of Serpents are such, as to enable them to swallow prodigious morsels, and animals more bulky than themselves*. But the assistance which some of these creatures receive from their poison in the seizing of their prey, is not the only benefit they derive from it-it is also their most sure and effectual defence; and from the dread and horror which such an instrument as the sting of a Serpent inspires, (although only found in the possession of a few,) it serves as it were for a safeguard to the whole species. Mankind indeed cannot tread with too cautious steps the paths frequented by these creatures; for although none of the most venomous kinds will attack man except on the defensive, yet, without the power of discriminating, when accidentally trod upon, they will make the intruder feel the power of their vengeance. What a merciful provision therefore has Providence made for the safety of the American in the tail of the Rattle Snake; than which, there is not one of the Serpent tribe perhaps more to be dreaded; yet the rattle in his tail, on the smallest motion, must give notice of his approach, or warn the traveller of the impending danger that lies concealed in his haunts †. Nor is the care of providence less observable in the provision made for the security and preservation of the more Z 3. harmless *A Serpent in the island of Java was observed at one time to destroy and devour a Buffalo-after having broke the bones by its voluminous twistings, it was seen to lick the body all over, which covered it with its mucus, and made it slip more glibly down its throat. + It is a melancholy truth, that the direful effects of the Serpent's poison is not confined to the wounds they themselves inflict, but as a celebrated Naturalist observes, by men more mischievous even than Serpents, who prepare their venom to destroy each other-with this the savages poison their arrows, and prepare their revengeful poisons. The ancients were known to preserve it for the purposes of suicide,. and among barbarians the venom of snakes is used as a philter to this day. How much more honorable for human nature when the ingenuity |