It has been observed with respect to insectiferous amber, that the greater part of the insects found in it exist no longer in the countries that produce that amber, and that in every different locality the insects found in it are different. Thus the amber of Sicily contains various species of Coleoptera not to be met with in other ambers, while that of the Baltic is rich in Diptera and Neuroptera[1592]. It is further observed, that the insects inclosed in the amber of Prussia, and those figured by Sendelius in his Historia Succinorum, all belong to genera at this time found in Europe[1593]. Insects of the following genera are recorded as having been found in this singular substance: Platypus, Elater, Atractocerus; Gryllus, Mantis; larvæ of Lepidoptera; Trichoptera; Ephemera, Perla, Termes; Formica; Tipula, Bibio, Empis; Scolopendra; and various Arachnida[1594]. In a piece of amber in my collection I find Evania, Formica, Chironomus, and some Arachnida.
Fossil insects have also been found in other substances. Parkinson figures larvæ of Libellulina found in limestone[1595]; some Melolonthæ in slate; a Polistes in schistus; Carabi and Necrobia in vegetable debris: but some of these rather belong to a comparatively modern formation[1596].
I observed in the outset of our correspondence, that we were entering an august temple, exhibiting in its inmost sanctuary the symbols of the Divine Presence[1597]. In proportion as we have penetrated, glory from that Shechinah has more and more shone forth: and whether we have considered the uses of insects, their ways and instincts, their forms and structure, and their arrangement in a wondrous and complex system, the Wisdom, Power and Goodness of their and our Creator have every where been marvellously conspicuous, and calculated to awaken in us every devotional feeling. If, indeed, we admire and study these little creatures, or any other department of nature, without reference to their Creator, and collect and love them merely for themselves, we shall be in some sense idolaters, and, like the ancient world, put the works of God in his place. But if, while we admire them and store them up and study them, we see in them his glory reflected, and in the creature love the Creator, the study of them, in conjunction with that of the written Word, will be highly beneficial to us, and at the same time that it ministers to our temporal enjoyment will promote our eternal interests.
Taking this view, I cannot better close our correspondence on the subject that has so long occupied us, than in the pious words of one of our most admired poets:
"Happy if full of days—but happier far,
If, ere we yet discern life's evening star,
Sick of the service of a world that feeds
Its patient drudges with dry chaff and weeds,
We can escape from custom's idiot sway,
To serve the Sovereign we were born t' obey.
Then sweet to muse upon his skill display'd
(Infinite skill) in all that he has made!
To trace, in Nature's most minute design,
The signature and stamp of pow'r divine,
Contrivance intricate, express'd with ease,
Where unassisted sight no beauty sees,
The shapely limb and lubricated joint,
Within the small dimensions of a point,
Muscle and nerve miraculously spun,
His mighty work, who speaks and it is done,
Th' Invisible in things scarce seen reveal'd,
To whom an atom is an ample field:
To wonder at a thousand insect forms,
These hatch'd, and those resuscitated worms,
New life ordain'd and brighter scenes to share,
Once prone on earth, now buoyant upon air,
Whose shape would make them, had they bulk and size,
More hideous foes than fancy can devise;
With helmet-heads and dragon-scales adorn'd,
The mighty myriads, now securely scorn'd,
Would mock the majesty of man's high birth,
Despise his bulwarks, and unpeople earth:
Then with a glance of fancy to survey,
Far as the faculty can stretch away,
Ten thousand rivers pour'd at his command
From urns that never fail through every land;
These like a deluge with impetuous force,
Those winding modestly a silent course;
The cloud-surmounting alps, the fruitful vales;
Seas on which every nation spreads her sails;
The sun, a world whence other worlds drink light;
The crescent moon, the diadem of night;
Stars countless, each in his appointed place,
Fast anchor'd in the deep abyss of space:—
At such a sight to catch the poet's flame,
And with a rapture like his own exclaim,
These are thy glorious works, thou source of good!
How dimly seen, how faintly understood!
Thine, and upheld by thy paternal care,
This universal frame, thus wondrous fair;
Thy power divine, and bounty beyond thought,
Adored and praised in all that thou hast wrought.
Absorb'd in that immensity I see,
I shrink abas'd, and yet aspire to thee;
Instruct me, guide me to that heavenly day,
Thy words, more clearly than thy works, display,
That, while thy truths my grosser thoughts refine,
I may resemble thee, and call thee mine.[1598]"