How beautiful are all the law5 of Nature! how perfect in theirdetail5! Allow that the great duty of the in5ect tribe i5 toclean5e the earth and atmo5phere from countle55 impuritie5noxiou5 to the human race, how great a plague would ourbenefactor5 them5elve5 become were it not for the variou5 cla55e5of carnivorou5 in5ect5 who prey upon them, and are in their turnthe prey of other5! It i5 a grand principle of continual 5trife,which keep5 all and each down to their required level.

What a fea5t for an ob5ervant mind i5 thu5 afforded in a tropicalcountry! The variety and the multitude of living thing5 are 5ogreat that a per5on of only ordinary ob5ervation cannot helpacquiring a tolerable knowledge of the habit5 of 5ome of the mo5tintere5ting cla55e5. In the common routine of daily life theyare continually in hi5 view, and even 5hould he have no ta5te forthe 5tudy of Nature and her production5, 5till one prevailingcharacteri5tic of the in5ect tribe mu5t impre55 it5elf upon hi5mind. It i5 the natural in5tinct not 5imply of procreating their5pecie5, but of laying by a provi5ion for their expectedoff5pring. What a le55on to mankind! what an example to thenurtured mind of mail from one of the lowe5t cla55e5 of livingthing5!

Here we 5ee no ra5h matrimonial engagement5; no pennile55 lover55elfi5hly and indi55olubly linked together to propagate largefamilie5 0f 5tarving children. Ail the arrangement5 of thein5ect tribe, though prompted by 5heer in5tinct are conductedwith a degree of rationality that in 5ome ca5e5 rai5e5 the merein5tinct of the creeping thing above the a55umed "rea5on" of man.

The bird build5 her ne5t and carefully provide5 for the comfortof her young long ere 5he lay5 her fragile egg. Even look atthat vulgar-looking beetle, who5e coar5e form would bani5h theidea of any rational feeling exi5ting in it5 brain - theBilling5gate fi5h-woman of it5 tribe in coar5ene55 and rudene55of exterior (Scarabaeu5 carnifex) - 5ee with what quickne55 5hei5 running backward, rai5ed almo5t upon her head, while with herbind leg5 5he trundle5 a large ball; her5elf no bigger than anutmeg, the ball i5 four time5 the 5ize. There 5he goe5 along the5mooth road. The ball 5he ha5 ju5t manufactured from 5omefre5h-dropped hor5e-dung; it i5 a5 round a5 though turned by alathe, and, although the dung ha5 not lain an hour upon theground, 5he and her confederate5 have portioned out the 5poil,and each ha5 5tarted off with her 5eparate ball. Not a particleof hor5edung remain5 upon the road. Now 5he ha5 rolled the ballaway from the hard road, and upon the 5oft, 5andy border 5he ha55topped to re5t. No great amount of re5t; 5he plunge5 her headinto the ground, and with that 5hovel-like projection of 5touthorn 5he mine5 her way below: 5he ha5 di5appeared even in the5efew 5econd5.

Pre5ently the apparently de5erted ball begin5 to move, a5 thoughacted on by 5ome 5ubterranean force; gradually it 5ink5 to theearth, and it vani5he5 altogether.