raised, and feems to be applied to the 'under to give more ftrength to the whole bill as well as to ferve for ornament. When we view it, we cannot help admiring the art with which it is laboured. Befides this advantage, this bird has the tongue flender like an awl, and ufes it very adroitly in catching the infects the point of the tongue therefore is endowed with a certain hardnefs, and on both fides it is furnifhed with fmall curved hooks which prevent the infects from difengaging themselves when the bird draws its tongue into its mouth.

Infects likewife ferve as food for quadrupeds. In the Indies is found an animal which hunts for infects, and devours them with avidity. The young armadillos feed on a fpecies of locuft which, because they have on their neck a fort of hood, have been called Monks. Bears are fond of ants and honey, and they go in fearch with great eagerness of the refts of wild bees. The Chameleon, and fome other fpécies of lizards eat flies. The principal food of the badger is the dung beetle, worms, and other infects of that kind. If we may believe Elian, foxes are not only greedy of poultry, but alfo fond of honey, and for this purpose feek the nests of wafps. Frogs lie in. wait to feize upon bees when they come to drink. Dogs dig up the Cicadas and eat them. The mole which lives in the earth, feeds on worms and millepieds.

The members of thofe quadrupeds that feed on infects, are provided with the neceffary qualities for feizing their prey. The tongue of that animal of the Indies, which lives on ants, is long and limber. He thrufts it out, far from his mouth, and darts it into an ant-hill, whence, after the ants have got upon it, he withdraws it again into his mouth. The tongue of the chameleon is likewife long, pointed,

and

and covered with a vifcid liquor. This animal keeps. his mouth open, and when flies, ants, little beetles, or other infects pafs within his reach, he darts out his tongue, with the fwiftnefs of an arrow, and when he has once catched them, they cannot escape: they are stuck on the tip of his tongue, as they would be on the point of a pin, or they are retained by the gluey substance which adheres to it, as birds are with bird-lime.

f

Infects, which ferve for food to certain animals, afford medecine to others. Poultry, when diseased, fwallow fpiders, which purge and cure them. Bears, when troubled with indigeftion, dip their tongue in honey, (as Plutarch relates,) and thruft it into an ant-hill: when the ants have gathered on it, they draw it in, fwallow the ants and are cured. To avoid prolixity, I fhall not adduce any more inftances.

After mature reflection on what has just been faid, concerning the uses of infects, we cannot furely hefitate in concluding, that the Being who formed them, is all-wife and almighty. His power appears, in his having conjoined fo many qualities in fuch diminutive animals and his wifdom, in having rendered them equally useful to men and brutes, in health, and in fickness. It is our duty to attend ferioufly to these circumftances; to have our hearts penetrated with gratitude to our Creator, and to offer him our continual thanks.

Man, endowed with reafon, convinced of the uti lity of many infects, cannot help acknowledging, that there are many ftill, whofe ufes are totally unknown. In this perfuafion, what can he do better, than apply himself to the affiduous inveftigation of their properties? The objection that many are noxious, is not a good one. I fhall answer it in the fucceeding

fucceeding chapter. The inutility of many others, is by no means better; it is abfolutely falfe. For it must be observed, in the first place, that we cannot fay a thing is ufelefs, because we are unaquainted with its properties: Experience teaches us, that, by careful examination of fome things, which, for a long time, had been regarded as useless, they have been found poffeffed of very valuable properties. Befides, we must diftinguish between utility mediate, and utility immediate. All things are created for the glory of God, and the ufe of man, although man does not enjoy the whole immediately. It is but a small part of the infect creation which ferves as food for man, but how many species are devoured by birds, by fishes, and other animals, which afterwards afford him fubftantial aliment. Hence it fol lows, that infects, ufeful to other animals, are useful to man. But further, many infects, as I have already fhewn, are of immediate utility to man. is there not a fufficient number to prompt him to examine, whether there are not others, that may be equally ferviceable to him?

And

They may be collected in different ways. It is easy to take in the day time, those which eat only during the night, becaufe, then they remain at reft, among the leaves. On the other hand, thofe that fly only by day, are easily taken during the night. A lighted candle in a lanthorn, attracts them, and brings them within our reach. In rainy weather too, they take shelter under the leaves, or in other places where they are found without difficulty.

As caterpillars feed themfelves, it is not difficult to rear them when they are taken. However, there are feveral things worthy of obfervation on this head. Whenever I took any, to observe their tranf formations, and to ftudy their nature, I put them in

to pretty large glass veffels,as wide at top as at bottom. Before putting them into this veffel, I took care to fill it half full of earth. I afterwards covered it, leaving, however, free access to the air, and put it in a place, where it was not expofed to the rays of the fun. I gave fresh food, every day, to fuch caterpillars, as I knew lived upon particular plants; but to fuch whofe kind of food I was ignorant of, I gave at first, fuch leaves or other things as I had found them on. If they did not touch thefe, the next day I gave them other leaves, and I continued thus, till I difcovered the food that fuited them. As great profit is derived from bees, it is of great importance for those who have opportunity, to know how to cultivate them. But as this fubject is too copious to be fully treated here, I fhall confine myself to the principal circumstances.

Bees require great care and attention. In the first place, their hives must be judiciously placed. They fhould be fituated in an air neither near a swamp nor moist. It is of advantage, to have in the neighbourhood, little rivulets of running water, not furrounded with tall trees, nor having on their banks, too luxuriant herbage. There fhould likewife be in the vicinity of the hives, abundance of all forts of odoriferous flowers. The hives must be very clean; and free from all impurities, such as spiders webs, mouldinefs, moths, clefts, &c. During winter, they ought to be laid over with plaifter, that the bees may be kept warm, and that no infect may penetrate to them. When the honey is taken in autumn, care must be had, to leave enough to ferve them for food during winter. In the months of May, June, and July, they must be watched, that the fwarms may not be loft. The hives which are ftrong fwarm in Máy, thofe lefs fo before St. John's Day, and the weakest after that time. If it is wifhed to have the fwarm remain in the hive destined for it, certain precautions

E c

cautions must be used, and it must be introduced with addrefs. The difeafes of bees are a fort of plague, and a diarrhoea. The firft is occafioned by moillure falling on the hives in autumn, which communicates with the honey, renders it mouldy, and infects the bees. If it be difcovered in time, it may be remedied, by cleaning the hives, and expofing them often to the air. The fecond arifes, when they over-heat themselves in the fpring, or light upon noxious flowers. It is remedied, by introducing fome honeycomb into the hive by its aperture at top; or by mixing a certain powder with honey, and giving it to the becs. The enemies of bees are the ftork, swallows, pigeons, jays, wood-peckers, mice, fnakes and ants. Some fpecies of these last eat the bees themfelves, others the honey, fuch as drones, wafps and hornets. Amongst the things that are difagreeable to them, we must reckon favin, boxwood, wormwood, falt, putrid water, all forts of ftrong and bad fmells, or exhalations, smoke, thunder, lightning and great noifes.

As to filk worms, the following is the method of treating them. To enable them to conftruct their cone with the greater facility, they are put into a paper, rolled up, fo as to be pointed at one end, and wide at the other. This method is proper, only when a fmall number is to be reared. But if a confiderable quantity is maintained, it will be better to put them upon branches of the white mulberry, which will procure them the advantage of living in a cleanly manner, without being furrounded by their excrement. There is another regulation to be obferved with fuch as are just hatched. They are fed with leaves of lettuce, but with all the economy which the delicacy of their flate requires, that too great a quantity of this food may not prove fatal to them. Suppofing their life divided into three stages,

the