more, than 20000.) I anfwer, There were fo many made,

ver any

1. To manifest and display the Riches of the Power and Wisdom of God, Psalm civ. 24. The Earth is full of thy Riches: So is this great and wide Sea, wherein are Things creeping innumerable, &c. We fhould be apt to think too meanly of those Attributes of our Creator, fhould we be able to come to an End of all his Works, even in this Sublunary World. And therefore I believe never any Man yet did, ne Man fhall, fo long as the World endures, by his utmost Industry, attain to the Knowledge of all the Species of Nature. Hitherto we have been so far from it, that in Ve getables, the Number of those which have been discovered this laft Age, hath far exceeded that of all those which were known before. So true is that we quoted before out of Seneca, Pufilla res eft mundus, nifi in eo quod quærat omnis, mundus habeat. The World is fo richly furnished and provided, that Man need not fear want of Employment, fhould he live to the Age of Methuselah, or ten times as long. But of this having touch'd it already, I fhall add no more.

2. Another Reason why so many Kinds of Creatures were made, might be to exercise the contemplative Faculty of Man; which is in nothing so much pleas'd, as in Variety of Objects. We foon grow weary of one Study; and if all the Objects of the World could be comprehended by us, we fhould, with AlexBb ander,

Part II. ander, think the World too little for us, and grow weary of running in a Round of feeing the fame Things. New Objects afford us great Delight, efpecially if found out by our own Industry. I remember Clufius faith of himfelf, That upon the Discovery of a new Plant, he did not lefs rejoice, than if he had found a rich Treafure. Thus God is pleased, by referving Things to be found out by our Pains and Industry, to provide us Employment most delightful and agreeable to our Natures and Inclinations.

3. Many of thefe Creatures may be useful to us, whose Uses are not yet difcovered, but referved for the Generations to come, as the Uses of some we now know are but of late Invention, and were unknown to our Forefathers. And this muft needs be fo, because, as I faid before, the World is too great, for any Man or Generation of Men by his or their utmost Endeavours to difcover and find out all its Store and Furniture, all its Riches and Treasures.

Secondly, As to the Multitude of Individuals in each Kind of Infect, I answer,

1. It is defigned to fecure the Continuance and Perpetuity of the feveral Species; which if they did not multiply exceedingly, scarce any of them could escape the Ravine of so many Enemies as continually affault and prey upon them, but would endanger to be quite destroyed and loft out of the World.

2. This

2. This vaft Multitude of Infects is ufeful to Mankind, if not immediately, yet mediately. It cannot be denied, that Birds are of great Ufe to us; their Flesh affording us a good Part of our Food, and that the most delicate too, and their other Parts Phyfick, not excepting their very Excrements. Their Feathers ferve to stuff our Beds and Pillows, yielding ús foft and warm Lodging, which is no fmall Convenience and Comfort to us, especially in these Northern Parts of the World. Some of them have also been always employed by Military Men in Plumes, to adorn their Crefts, and render them formidable to their Enemies: Their Wings and Quills are made use of for writing Pens, and to brush and cleanse our Rooms, and their Furniture. Besides, by their melodious Accents they gratify our Ears; by their beautiful Shapes and Colours, they de light our Eyes, being very ornamental to the World, and rendring the Country where the Hedges and Woods are full of them, very pleasant and chearly, which without them would be no less lonely and melancholy. Not to mention the Exercise, Diverfion, and Recrea tion, which fome of them give us.

Now Infects fupply Land-Birds the chiefeft Part of their Suftenance: Some, as the entire Genus of Swallows, living wholly upon them, as I could easily make out, did any Man deny or doubt of it: And not Swallows alone, but alfo Wood-peckers, if not wholly, yet chiefly; and all other Sorts of Birds partly, efpecialBb 2

ly

Part II. ly in Winter-time, when Infects are their main Support, as appears by diffecting their Stomachs.

As for young Birds, which are brought up in the Neft by the old, they are fed chiefly, if not folely, by Infects. And therefore for the Time when Birds for the most part breed in the Spring, when there are Multitudes of Caterpillars to be found on all Trees and Hedges. Moreover, it is very remarkable, that of many fuch Birds, as when grown up, feed almost wholly upon Grain, the young ones are nourifhed by Infects. For Example, Pheasants and Partridges, which are well known to be granivorous Birds, the young live only or moftly upon Ants Eggs. Now Birds, being of a hot Nature, are very voracious Creatures, and eat abundantly, and therefore there had need be an infinite Number of Infects produced for their Suftenance. Neither do Birds alone, but many Sorts of Fishes feed upon Infects, as is well known to Anglers, who bait their Hooks with them. Nay, which is more ftrange, divers Quadrupeds feed upon Infects, and fome live wholly upon them, as two Sorts of Tamunduus upon Ants, which therefore are called in English Ant-Bears; the Chamaleon upon Flies; the Mole upon Earth-worms. The Badger alfo lives chiefly upon Beetles, Worms, and other Infects.

Here we may take Notice by the way, That because fo many Creatures live upon Ants and their Eggs, Providence hath fo ordered it, that

they

they should be the most numerous of any Tribe of Infects that we know.

Conformable to this Particular, is the Reafon my ingenious and inquifitive Friend Mr. Derham before remembred hath given of the Production of such innumerable Multitudes of fome Aquatick Infects.

I have often thought (faith be) that there was fome more than ordinary Use in the Creation for fuch Infects as are vaftly numerous. Such as the Pulices Aquatici, which are in fuch Swarms, as to difcolour the Waters, and many others: And therefore I have bent my Enquiries to find out the Ufes of fuch Creatures; wherein I have fo far fucceeded, as to discover, that those vaftly fmall Animalcula, not to be feen without a Microscope, with which the Waters are replete, ferve for Food to fome others of the fmall Infects of the Waters, particularly to the Nympha culicaria [hirfuta it may be called] figured in Swammerdam. For viewing that Nympha one Day, to obferve the Motion of its Mouth, and for what Purpose it is in fuch continual Motion; whether as Fish to get Air, or to fuck in Food, or both, I could plainly perceive the Creature to fuck in many of these most minute Animalcula, that were fwimming briskly about in the Water. Neither yet do thefe Animalcules ferve only for Food to fuch Nymphe, but also to another to me anonymous Infect of the Waters, of a dark Colour, cleft as it were in funder, and fcarce fo big as the smallest Pins Head. Thefe

Bb 3

Infects