Page 308 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

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single method of operating; and if put om that, it can turn to no other. In the pursuits of the hound, there is something like choice; but in the labours of the bee, the whole appears like necessity and com­ pulsion. All other animals are capable of some de­ gree of education; their instincts may be suppressed or altered; the dog may be taught to tch and carry, the bird to whistle a tune, and the serpent to dance; but the insect has only one invariable method of op­ erating; no art can turn it om its instincts; and indeed its li is too short r instruction, as a single
season often terminates its existence.
3. Of all productions in nature, insects are by r the most numerous. The vegetables which cover the sur ce of the earth bear no proportion to the multi­ tudes of insects; and though, at rst sight, herbs of the eld seem to be the parts of organised nature produced in the greatest abundance; yet, upon more minute inspection, we nd every plant supporting a mixture of scarcely perceptible creatures, that ll up the compass of youth, vigour, and age, in the space of a w days' existence. In L land, and some parts of America, the insects are so numerous, that if a candle is lighted, they swarm about in such multi­ tudes, that it is instantly extinguished by them ; and, in these parts of the world, the miserable inhabitants are rced to smear their bodies and ces with tar, or some other unctuous composition, to protect them om the stings of their minute enemies.
4. On the other hand, Swammerdam, a celebrated naturalist, argues r the per ction of insects in the ll°'ving manner: " After an attentive examination of the nature and anatomy of the smallest as well as the largest animals, I cannot help a1lowing the least
READING LESSONS.
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