To whatever part of the works of God we turn our attention, there is much to draw forth feelings of wonder and admiration. But perhaps if we could look through nature with a more intelligent eye than we possess, we might discover even greater cause for astonishment among the little than the great things of creation. The mighty Oak, which has braved the storms of centuries; the huge Mountain, with its foaming torrents; the Sun, shedding life and heat upon a dark world; and the Moon, walking in her brightness through the midnight heavens, are instances upon a great and extensive scale of the grandeur of creation's God. But when from these objects we turn to those small animated forms which we term insects, and I which swarm in myriads through every part of the world which we inhabit, we are lost in the consideration of that endless variety of skill which the Creator has bestowed upon creatures which, though they appear, at first sight, insignificant, are in reality highly important in the scale of being. To these has been given not only a form which is "curiously and wonderfully wrought," but a peculiar faculty which naturalists term instinct. God has furnished many of them with a body, beautiful as well as curious. Some are equipped with wings of almost celestial splendor; and multitudes of them are found, when closely examined by the help of magnifying glasses, to be cased in glittering armour, and possessed of weapons or instruments which man has only invented for himself by the exercise of reason during a long course of ages. The habits displayed + All their operations,' says an eminent Naturalist, ‘are performed with admirable precision and dexterity; and though they do not usually vary the mode, yet that mode is always the best that can be conceived for attaining the end in view. The instruments also with which they are provided are no less wonderful and various, than the operations themselves. They have their saws, and files, and augers, and gimlets, and knives, and lancets, and scissors, and forceps, with many other similar implements, several of which act in more than one capacity, and with a complex and alternate motion to which we have not attained in the use of our tools.' 'Nor is the fact so extraordinary as it may seem at first, since "He who is wise in heart, and wonderful in working," is the inventor and fabricator of the apparatus of insects, which may be considered as a set of miniature patterns drawn for our use by a divine hand.'-Kirby and Spence's Entomology. The same author observes, 'In variegation insects certainly exceed every class of beings. Nature, in her sportive mood when painting them, sometimes imitates the clouds of heaven; at others, the meandering course of the rivers of the earth. Many are veined like beautiful marbles, others have the semblance of a robe of the finest network thrown over them. On many, taking her rule and com by insects are, in numerous instances, so curious and wonderful, as almost to surpass the efforts of reason; while the structures they erect are often so stupendous in their bulk in proportion to the size of the animal, and built with so much skill as to put to shame the greatest monuments of power and genius. The silken tent in which many caterpillars live and undergo their change, is a more striking object than the palace of a king: and the Beehive is a greater wonder than the Pyramids of Egypt; for in the operations of the insect tribes, we can trace far more clearly and directly the impress of a divine wisdom directing all their movements. We see the Creator's skill upon a small and reduced scale, but it is still the same-infinite in littleness as in greatness. We are still called upon to passes, she draws with precision mathematical figures, triangles, squares, circles, &c. On others, she pourtrays with mystic hand what seem like hieroglyphic symbols, or inscribes them with the characters of various languages; and what is more extraordinary, she has registered in others figures which correspond with several dates of the Christian æra. Again, to some nature has given fins like those of fish, or a beak like that of birds; to others horns; the bull, the stag, the rhinoceros, and even the unicorn have in this respect many representatives among insects,' &c. 'Insects also,' says this writer, may with very little violence be regarded as symbolical of beings out of and above nature. The butterfly, adorned with every beauty and every grace, borne by radiant wings through the fields of ether, and extracting nectar from every flower, gives us some idea of the blessed inhabitants of happier worlds; of angels, and the spirits of the just arrived at their state of perfection. Again, others seem emblematical of a different class of our earthly beings, when we survey their horns, spines, &c., the dens of darkness in which they live, the impurity of their food, their cruelty, the nets they spread, and the pits they sink to entrap the unwary, we can scarcely help regarding them as aptly symbolizing evil demons, the enemies of man, for their crimes and vices driven from the regions of light into darkness and punishment. mark, with wondering eyes, "The unambiguous footsteps of the God And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds.' As an insect well known to all, and remarkable for its skill, we shall select by way of illustration the Honey Bee. At the present season, the habits of this interesting little creature come under our daily observation. Whenever the sun shines, we may see him winging his way over the fields and gardens, alighting upon every favourite flower, and drinking from each a portion of their nectar. For this purpose the Bee is provided with a most singular apparatus. Its tongue is so constructed as to penetrate into every recess of the flower where the honey lies, and this is received into a bag capable of great inflation, previous to its being swallowed and consigned to the honey stomach. Its thighs are also so formed as to be capable sometimes of carrying home to its hive a load of the pollen, or yellow dust of flowers, which is necessary for the food of the young grubs; and at other times for the collection of a gummy substance called propolis, which is used as a cement for various purposes connected with the hive. To enable it to carry such a burden, nothing can be more curiously formed than the hind legs of the Bee. The middle portion of these is actually formed into a sort of triangular basket by the aid of a margin of strong and thickly set bristles, which thus secure whatever is placed within them from falling out. Wonderful as this may appear, our wonder is increased if we follow the Bee to his retreat. The architectural skill which is there displayed in the construction of the hive, is well known to all who have investigated the process. The six sided cells, erected to contain the honey, are exactly what a human architect would build if he were required to erect a building that should contain the largest quantity of room in the smallest possible space, and with the smallest quantity of materials. When we further see how these honey store houses are exactly filled and sealed up for future use, it is impossible not to be struck with the astonishing instinet thus displayed, which leads them to accumulate their treasure with so much care against period of want and repose. Equally surprising, however, is the harmony which subsists in the Beehive, whose inmates are perhaps seldom fewer than 15,000. The greatest order is preserved amongst them; for all are industrious; all know their places, and they have none of that love of change which frequently produces so many calamities among human beings. A distinguished poet well described them when he thus compared them to a well ordered monarchy, 'Creatures that by a rule in nature teach |