minuteness with which the habits of each variety have been traced,
have raised these insects to a conspicuous position in the great
Animal Kingdom. Their beauty, as they lie here in vast numbers before
the spectator, is dazzling. Every colour and every combination and
shade of colour can be traced upon them; and in these varieties of
tint there appears to be a wise provision of nature, the blue coloured
beetle being the frequenter of the bark of trees, the green beetle
revelling among the leaves; and the gay red and light beetles being
the _habitées_ of flower cups. Upon the first table of the series (1)
are some curious varieties. Here are the remarkable burying-beetle,
that deposits its eggs in the rotting flesh of small dead animals, and
then, with the assistance of some kindred beetles buries the body,
leaving its progeny to enjoy the carrion when they quicken; the sacred
scarabaeus of the Egyptians, and the British variety of the same
beetle, that bury their eggs in their dung. Upon the next table (2)
are the golden tropical beetles, whose wings are used by the natives
as ornaments; the celebrated glow worms, the females of which emit a
phosphorescent light, in order to attract the attention of the
males--thus these lights are love signals; the Brazilian
diamond-beetle, a splendid insect, and the harlequin beetle. The third
table (3) is covered with varieties of the kangaroo beetles, a
brilliant collection of ladybirds, the varieties of earwigs,
cockroaches, originally tropical insects only; the praying insects,
called so from their habit of erecting their fore legs and assuming a
prayerful attitude, when, in fact, they are preparing for an attack
upon their prey: and the insects which the uninitiated visitor has
already mistaken for pieces of stick, but which are the walking
leaf-insects; some with wings like dead leaves, and others wingless.
The fourth table (4) is covered with the varieties of the Cricket,
including the great Chinese cricket, dragon-flies, scorpion-flies, the