wonderful instincts, powers, and I may add, passions, comprised; their habits are so curious, extraordinary, and varied—their forms so splendid and beautiful-some in their silken robes, some in their blue and burnished armour, some with their glowing and gorgeous wings, transparent as crystal, or feathered like the peacock; they effect such vast designs with such small means, and they so haunt all corners of the habitable globe, that I can conceive no portion of all God's wonderful creatures, more capable of, at once, fascinating the attention, charming the fancy, or exciting the highest admiration in the most intelligent minds. I regret that out of upwards of ten thousand indigenous insects, my catalogue must be confined to a very few-the most splendid, the most conspicuous, the most curious, and the most popular-such, in fact, as the general lover of nature will be most likely to meet with in his walks, without much seeking after. SELECT CALENDAR OF BRITISH INSECTS. NOTE. The Insects of this and all the following lists are named from the Systematic Catalogue of Stephens. Most of the insects included in the list for this month, may be found the greater part of the year. They hybernate copiously beneath moss and the bark of trees. Aquatic beetles, being less subject to atmospheric changes, may be observed and caught at all seasons, but are more active during the summer months, when their food (the small aquatic larvæ) is more abundant. Being amphibious, and well provided with wings, they can, when their store of food is exhausted, fly from one pool to another, thus avoiding death, either from starvation or the drying up of the water in summer. Equipped with wings, and having a voracious appetite, they tend materially to keep in check a myriad of noxious insects, and to purify our ditches and stagnant pools, which would otherwise become unfit for cattle. |