To my comparison may likewise be opposed the prodigious multiplication of certain kinds of insects: as the bee in particular, one of which will produce thirty or forty thousand. But it must be observed, that I speak in general of animals compared with vegetables; and besides, this example of bees, which perhaps is the greatest multiplication among animals, does not constitute a proof against what we have observed; for of thirty or forty thousand flies produced by the female bee, there is but few females; fifteen hundred, or two thousand males, and all the rest moles, or rather neutral flies, without sex, and incapable of procreating. It must be owned, that in insects, fish, and shell-fish, there are species which seem to be very abundant; oysters, herrings, fleas, beetles, &c. are perhaps in as great numbers as mosses and the most common plants; but on the whole, the greatest number of the animal species is less abundant than the vegetable; and by comparing different kinds of plants with each other, there is not found such great differences in the number, as in the animal species; some of which bring forth a prodigious number, and others only a few; whereas the number of productions in plants is always very great throughout. By what we have observed, it appears that the smallest and basest species seem to be the most prolific: the most minute are the most plentiful as well in animals as in plants, and in proportion as the animals are more perfect, they appear to decrease in number of individuals. Can it be thought, that certain forms of the body, as those of quadrupeds and birds, requisite for the perfection of sensation, would cost nature more organic particles than the production of less important animals? Let us now pass to the comparison of animals and vegetables, with respect to situation, form, and size. The earth is the only place wherein vegetables can subsist. The greatest number grow above the surface, and are attached to the soil by roots. Some, as truffles, are entirely covered with earth, and a few grow under the water, but all require the surface of the earth to exist upon. Animals, on the contrary, are more generally dispersed; some dwell on the surface, and others in the bowels of the earth; some live at the bottom, and others swim in the waters of the ocean: some exist in the air, others dwell in the internal parts of plants, on the bodies of men and other animals, liquors, and even stones are not without them.