"O! would the sons of men once think their eyes And reason given them but to study Flies! See Nature, in some partial, narrow shape, And let the Author of the whole escape; Learn but to trifle; or, who most observe, To wonder at their Maker, not to serve."[E] Thus exclaims the Goddess of Dulness, sweeping into her net all those who study nature in detail. But if the matter were rightly appreciated, it would be evident that no part of the works of the Creator can be without the deepest interest to an inquiring mind; and that a portion of creation which exhibits such extraordinary manifestations of design as is shown by insects must have attractions for the very highest understanding. An accurate knowledge of the properties of insects is of great importance to man, merely with relation to his own comfort and security. The injuries which they inflict upon us are extensive and complicated; and the remedies which we attempt, by the destruction of those creatures, both insects, birds, and quadrupeds, who keep the ravages in check, are generally aggravations of the evil, because they are directed by an ignorance of the economy of nature. The little knowledge which we have of the modes by which insects may be impeded in their destruction of much that is valuable to us, has probably proceeded from our contempt of their individual insignificance. The security of property has ceased to be endangered by quadrupeds of prey, and yet our gardens are ravaged by aphides and caterpillars. It is somewhat startling to affirm that the condition of the human race is seriously injured by these petty annoyances; but it is perfectly true that the art and industry of man have not yet been able to overcome the collective force, the individual perseverance, and the complicated machinery of destruction which insects employ. A small ant, according to a most careful and philosophical observer, opposes almost invincible obstacles to the progress of civilization in many parts of the equinoctial zone. These animals devour paper and parchment; they destroy every book and manuscript. Many provinces of Spanish America cannot, in consequence, show a written document of a hundred years' existence. "What development," he adds, "can the civilization of a people assume, if there be nothing to connect the present with the past--if the depositories of human knowledge must be constantly renewed--if the monuments of genius and wisdom cannot be transmitted to posterity?"[F] Again, there are beetles which deposit their larvæ in trees in such formidable numbers that whole forests perish beyond the power of remedy. The pines of the Hartz have thus been destroyed to an enormous extent; and in North America, at one place in South Carolina, at least ninety trees in every hundred, upon a tract of two thousand acres, were swept away by a small black, winged bug. And yet, according to Wilson, the historian of American birds, the people