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had commanded.' GEN. vii. 11-16. Infects therefore are not excepted from this general law. God hath made them to preferve their species by the intercourfe of male with female; God hath endowed them with the proper organs for this purpose. God in fhort, hath bleffed them like the other animals that they may multiply and replenish the earth. The effect of this benediction has fubfifted for thoufands of years without our being able to obferve any alteration. What exalted idea ought not this to give us of the power and wifdom of him who hath eftablished fo permanent a regulation, and which has not fuffered any interruption in the course of fo -long a fucceffion of ages!、

CHAP. IX.

OF THE ABODE OF INSECTS.

THERE is hardly any fubftance in nature which does not afford a lodging place for infects. Of this I mean in the prefent Chapter to convince. my readers.

Water is not an element proper for every fort of animal. Thofe who are not furnished with organs that fit them to inhabit it, perifh in a fhort time, when by any accident they fall into it. If it had not pleafed God to form creatures capable of fuftaining life in that element it would have been defert; but befides fishes of every kind, he has created a great number of infects to inhabit the waters. As among thofe there are many which cannot live but in falt water, fo among thefe there are many

which would perifh in frefh waters. On the other hand, the faltnefs of the fea would kill many which cannot live but in fresh waters. Hot Springs, in which a perfon cannot hold his hand without being burnt, would seem to be a very improper abode for living beings; and yet there are infe&ts found, which live and thrive in them, and die when taken elfewhere. It is well known that thefe little creatures very much dread the cold, which generally benumbs them; would one then expect to find fome in fnow? We know likewife that offenfive fmells and oily substances are injurious to them, yet fome inhabit the water of dunghills, in which both thefe inconveniences are united. There are even Naturalifts who pretend to have discovered fome in fire; but I doubt the truth of their obfervations. Fire is an element which deftroys and diffolves every thing! how then should an infect refift its action? It is very certain that they are found both in natural and artificial liquors. The curious have perceived them in the bleedings of the vine newly drawn, in wine, in vinegar, and in infufions of every kind; a phenomenon the more furprising as the greatest part of infects have an averfion at every thing which is acid or pungent, as fome of thefe liquors are. Laftly there are amphibious infects as well as other animals. Many fpecies live equally well in water or in air. They delight to be in the vicinity of water, on the furface of which they are feen flying, and ferve for food to the animals of both elements.

The earth, both in its furface and below it, is not less peopled with numbers of infects than the waters. Some have no other domicile than below the furface of the earth; others may retire thither for protec tion against the rigours of winter; hence many derive the names which diftinguish them from other fpecies. For example, we call thoie flies, larvæ and fpi

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ders which live in the earth, land infects, to diftinguifh them from others of the fame kind that live elsewhere. It is not indifferent to them what foil they make use of; they are seen seeking with anxiety for that which is fittest for their purpose, and there they fix. Others make vaults underground, through which they creep and walk; others content themselves with a hole which they fabricate with wonderful art, and in which they neftle. Grafshoppers delight in a dry foil, and crickets love to dwell in walls conftructed of mud. Earth newly dug, fwarms with infects, fome of which feed on the roots of plants, and others on the earth itself. Some live only in fandy foils, o thers only in that formed of rotten wood. Some lodge in the fat and putrid earth of dunghills, and find what is neceffary to life in a place which would kill other infects. In this clafs I rank flies, fome beetles, and the larvæ of dunghills. Others feek their food in the excrement of animals, and are found in it both before and after its exclufion. Some put themselves under ftones which ferve them as a canopy; while others gnaw them, however hard, till they have excavated a hole in which they can lodge. Laftly they are found in vaft numbers on the furface of the earth; fuch are the land pulices, grafshoppers, millepieds, &c.

There is hardly a plant which does not nourish fome infect. Some people even affirm that each has a fpecies of infect peculiar to itfelf; but it alfo often happens that the fame plant ferves as a refidence to many fpecies of thefe little animals. Some creep in the grass, or conftruct in it dwellings for themfelves. Others lodge about the roots of plants, or fabricate finall apartments near them; fome laftly harbour in the bulbs of flowers,

The grafs is like a large carpet on which many fpecies

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fpecies of infects are found. The larvæ of all forts of infects are found on the wormwood, the cabbage, the borrage, the nettle, on fennel, flax ground ivy. motherwort, chervil, mint, crefs, orach, buglofs, melilot, anife, plaintain, and fpurge. Some lodge between the two membranes of the leaf; the under one ferves them for a bed, the upper for a covering. Others which have derived their name from the circumftance, roll up the leaves like a cylinder; attach the different folds with a thread which they draw from themselves, and fhut themselves up in it. Laftly fome are found fixed on flowers. The anemone, the flowers of the wild crefs, of hyacinths, July flow, ers, larkfpurs, rofes, violets &c. ferve as a habitation for many fpecies,

Nothing is fecure against the voracity of thefe importunate guests; they fpare no fort of fruit whether dry or green. They are found not only on the leaves, the ears and ftems of corn, but also in the dried grain; fuch as pease, beans, oats, &c. and in the bread made of these,

They mount up on fhrubs and lodge there. They delight in the hawthorn, the elder, the goofe-berry, the quince, the vine &c. Some keep themfelves on the outfide of the leaves, while others penetrate within, between the two membranes, attach themselves to the flowers or infinuate themselves into the wood itself, and there caufe fmall excrefcences.

The larger trees are worlds peopled with various fpecies ofinfects, and there is hardly a part ofthem which thefe little animals do not attack. Some that have acquired the name of ambulones, do not confine themfelves to a single tree, but go from one to another, feemingly defirous of tafting all. Others are more conftant, and attach themselves to the root, the bark

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or wood of the tree, and keep fixed there, The taste of these laft varies. Some prefer green to rot-. ten wood, others efteem dry wood before what is moift, and are better pleafed with thofe places in which corruption has begun, than with thofe that are found. Some live on the leaves of trees, as the lime, the mulberry, the alder, the willow &c. Some infinuate themselves within the parenchyma of those leaves, and live between the two membranes which cover them, while others are the caufe of an excref cence in which they lodge. Thefe are of many fpecies; and it is eafy to know them by the different form of the excrefcence they live in. Some makę it of a round form either on the upper furface of the leaf, as thofe on the beech, or on the under furface like thofe of the oak; fome on the margins as thofe of the willow, others give it the figure of a cone like thofe on the line. The flowers of trees, have likewife their inhabitants. Infects are found on thofe of the cherry, the apple, the plumb, the hazle, &c. nay, they penetrate the fruit, and spoil our apples, pears, figs, cherries, nuts, &c.

But it is not plants alone that infects chufe for their abode, they likewife effect a lodgement in animals and even in other infects. It is well known that the ichneumon flies lay their eggs in the bodies of caterpillars and spiders where they are afterwards hatched. Before this fact was perfectly afcertained it was eafy to fall into error, and to believe that one fpecies of infects fometimes produced a fpecies different from itself. Can we be furprised then that fome naturalifts fhould advance this para dox? Some are found attaching themselves to the outfide of another infect without penetrating fure ther; thus we find a fort of lice on aquatic infects, on bees, butterflies and beetles. Serpents likewise nourish many infects. I have not yet been able to

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