d carefully investigate, we
shall be struck with wonder and astonishment, and shall discover, that
the smallest gnat that buzzes in the meadow, is as much a subject of
admiration as the largest elephant that ranges the forest, or the
hugest whale which ploughs the deep; and when we consider the least
creature that we can imagine, myriads of which are too small to be
discovered without the help of glasses, and that each of their bodies is
made up of different organs or parts, by which they receive or retain
nourishment, &c. with the power of action, how natural the exclamation,
O "Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all."
Under these considerations, that they are the work of the same great,
good, and Almighty hand that formed us, and that they are all capable of
feeling pleasure and pain, surely every little child, as well as older
person, ought carefully to avoid every kind of cruelty to any kind of
creature, great or small.

The supreme court of Judicature at Athens punished a boy for putting out
the eyes of a poor bird; and parents and masters should never overlook
an instance of cruelty to any thing that has life, however minute, and
seemingly contemptible the object may be.

"I would not enter on my list of friends
(Though grac'd with polish'd manners, and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility) the man
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm."

COWPER.

ELEPHANT-BEETLE.

[Illustration]

The elephant-beetle is the largest of this kind hitherto known, and is
found in South America, particularly in Guiana, about the rivers Surinam
and Oroonoko. It is of a black colour, and the whole body is covered
with a shell, full as thick and as strong as that of a small crab. There
is one preserved in the museum that measures more than six inches.

GRASSHOPPER.

[Illustration]

Grasshoppers are too common to need description, as they abound almost
wherever there is green grass. One summer only is their period of life;
they are hatched in the spring, and die in the fall; previous to which,
they deposite their eggs in the earth, which the genial warmth of the
next season brings to life. They are food for many of the feathered
race.

CRICKET.

[Illustration]

There are two classes of crickets: viz. the field cricket, and the house
cricket; the latter inhabits warm places, the holes of the hearth, &c.
from whence we hear its notes, which are agreeable: it is said