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in the very different form of a pupa *.
The pupa
emerges at length the complete insect, in its perfect
or ultimate form, from which it never can after change,
nor can it receive any further increase of growth.
This last or perfect state is termed the imago.

So when Rinaldo struck the conscious rind,
He found a nymph in every trunk confined;
The forest labours with convulsive throes,
The bursting trees the lovely births disclose,
And a gay troop of damsels round him stood,
Where late was rugged bark and lifeless wood.

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BARBAULD.

Some insects undergo a change of shape, but are hatched from the egg complete, in all their parts, and only cast their skin from time to time, during their growth, till they acquire the full size of their respective species. The mouth, in some tribes, is formed for gnawing or breaking the food, and operates by a pair of strong horny jaws, moving laterally, as in the beetle tribe; while, in others, it is formed for suction, and consists of a sort of tube, In the butterfly and moth tribe, it consists of a double tube, which, when at rest, is rolled into a spiral form, and extended at full length when in use. The eyes differ in the different tribes, but by far the greater part of insects are furnished with eyes apparently two in number, and situated on each side the head. The outward surface of the coats of these eyes may be compared to so many convex lenses or glasses. The head of the libellula, or common dragon-fly, is furnished with 25,000 of these diminutive Tenses! In spiders, the eyes are from six to eight in number; of a simple structure, and placed at a considerable distance from each other.

The muscles, or organs constituting the several portions of the flesh in insects, are far more numer

The Linnæan term, pupa, was given, from the indistinct resemblance which many insects bear in this state to a doll, or a child when swathed up, according to the old fashion.

ous than in the larger animals, and are extremely sensible or irritable. In the human body, the muscles scarcely exceed 500, but, in a large caterpillar, more than 4000 have been discovered! The power of the muscles is also much greater than in animals. A flea is capable of springing at least 200 times its own length; whereas the jerboa and kangaroo, in their most powerful springs, fall very short of the same proportional distance.

Search the least path CREATIVE Pow'r has trod,
How plain the footsteps of th' apparent GOD!
His art could organs, strength, and sense implant
In the small agile fly, and reptile ant;
In the mean mite, so much minuter still,
Thy finger's pressing point may millions kill.
Marked by the magnifying crystal's aid,

In ev'ry place, what proofs will stand displayed!
Lo! from the stagnant pool one drop obtain;
Of insects this includes a sumless train:
Buoyed in the little pool they frisk and play,
Pleased with their short existence of a day.
The little gnat, in beauties, may compare
With all his rival brothers of the air;
Transparent feathers, purple, green, and gold,
His wings, small feet, and gay-fringed tail enfold.
Four sharpened spears his head with weapons arm,
And his pearled eyes* with liveliest graces charm.
In down of ev'ry variegated die

Shines, flutt'ring soft, the gaudy butterfly.
That powder which thy spoiling hand distains,
The forms of quills and painted plumes contains;
Not courts can more magnificence express,
In all their blaze of gems and pomp of dress.
How fine a fur the spider's robe supplies,
Encircled with his brilliant ring, of eyes!
By one quick glance directing ev'ry way,
The watchful hunter to secure his prey.
Thy microscopic glass admiring bring,
And view the humble hornet's sharp'ned sting.

* These are composed of several thousand little hemispheres, or, in reality, are so many distinct eyes; which have such a power of magnifying, and are of such a wonderful structure, in many of the minutest insects, that they are capable of discovering objects many thousand times less than themselves.

Then on the slenderest needle turn thy eye,
And the vast diff'rence in their points descry:
This viewed, more polished seems, acuter far;
That, rough as from the forge some blunted bar.
GOD's Smallest work all human skill degrades,
Foils the lost man, and sinks his worth in shades.

MOSES BROWNE

Insects are divided into seven orders: coleoptera, hemiptera, lepidoptera, neuroptera, hymenoptera, diptera, and aptera.

ORDER I. COLEOPTERA, or insects which have a hollow horny case, under which the wings are folded, when not in use. The genera are:-1. Scarabæus, beetles. 2. Lucanus, stag-beetle. 3. Dermestes. 4. Coccinella, lady-bird. 5. Curculio, weevil. 6. Lampyris, glow-worm. 7. Meloe, spanish-fly. 8. Staphylinus. 9. Forficula, earwig.

ORDER H. HEMIPTERA, or half-winged insects. In this order, the wing-sheaths are tough or leathery at their upper part, and soft or membranaceous at the lower, and the real or under wings are often of great size, and plaited longitudinally in the manner of a fan. The genera are:-. Blatta, cock-roach. 2. Gryllus, locust, grasshopper. 3. Fulgora, lantern-fly. 4. Cimex, bug, &c.

ORDER III. LEPIDOPTERA, or scaly-winged insects. The powder or down on the wings of these insects has been considered as composed of a kind of feathers; but in reality it is composed of a kind of very minute scales, which differ in size and form in the different species, as well as on different parts of the same species. The genera are: 1. Papilio, butterfly *. 2, 3. Sphinx and Phalana, moths.

* Voyez ce papillon échappé du tombeau,

Sa mort fut un sommeil, et sa tombe un berceau ;
Il brise le fourreau qui l'enchaînait dans l'ombre;

Deux yeux paraient son front, et ses yeux sont sans nombre;
Il se traînait à peine, il part comme l'éclair;

Il rampait sur la terre, il voltige dans l'air.

DE LILLE.

Ten thousand different tribes

People the blaze. To sunny waters some

By fatal instinct fly.

Through the green-wood glade
Some love to stray; there lodged, amused, and fed,
In the fresh leaf. Luxurious, others make

The meads their choice, and visit every flower,
And every latent herb.

ORDER IV. NEUROPTERA, or nerve-winged, or fibre-winged insects. This order consists of such as have four large wings, furnished with very conspicuous nerves, fibres, or ramifications dispersed over the whole wing. The genera are: 1. Libellula, dragonfly. 2. Ephemera, may-fly, or trout-fly, &c.

ORDER V. HYMENOPTERA, or insects having four wings, but not fibrous like the former order. They generally possess a sting or piercer, which in some is innocent; but in others, it is calculated for the discharge of a highly acrimonious or poisonous juice, as in wasps and bees. The genera are: 1. Vespa, wasp, hornet. 2. Apis, bee*. 3. Formica, ant. 4. Termes, white ant. 5. Ichneumon, &c.

The flowery leaf

Wants not its soft inhabitants. Secure,
Within its winding citidal, the stone

Holds multitudes. But chief the forest-boughs,
That dance unnumbered to the playful breeze,
The downy orchard, and the melting pulp
Of mellow fruit, the nameless nations feed

Of evanescent insects.

ORDER VI. DIPTERA, consists of insects with. two wings only, as the whole race of flies strictly so

*As bees

In spring-time, when the Sun with Taurus rides,
Pour forth their populous youth about the hive
In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers
Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank,
The suburb of their straw-built citadel,
New rubbed with balm, expatiate and confer
Their state affairs: so thick the aëry crowd
Swarmed and were straitened.

MILTON,

called, as well as gnats, and a great variety of other insects. The genera are: 1. Estrus, gad-fly. 2. Musca, common flies. 3. Culex, gnat*, musquito. 4. Hippobosca, horse-leech, &c.

In the genus Estrus, or gad-fly, the eggs are laid by the parent in the skin of the backs of cattle, in one species; in others, in the nostrils and other parts of deer and sheep: the larves, when arrived at their full size, creep out, and retiring beneath the surface of the grass, or under any convenient body, change into a chrysalis, from which, in a certain space, springs the animal in its ultimate form.

ORDER VII. APTERA, or insects without wings. The genera are: 1. Podura, spring-tail. 2. Pediculus, louse. 3. Pulex, flea, chigger. 4. Acarus, tick, mite. 5. Aranea, spiders t. 6. Scorpio, scorpion. 7. Cancer, crab, lobster, craw-fish, shrimp. 8. Monoculus, water-flea. 9. Oniscus, wood-louse. 10. Scolopendra, centipede.

The two genera cancer and monoculus are crustaceous, or have a hard shelly covering. The crabs and lobsters cast their skins annually, the body shrinking before the change, and enabling them easily to draw out their limbs from the shell. The larger kind of crabs possess the extraordinary power of casting off at pleasure any limb which may be accidentally

*

As gentle shepherd in sweet eventide,

When ruddy Phœbus gins to welke in west,
High on a hill, his flocks to viewen wide,
Marks which do bite their hasty supper best,
A cloud of cumbrous gnats do him molest,
All striving to infix their feeble stings,
That from their noyance he can no where rest,
But with his clownish hands their tender wings
He brusheth oft, and oft doth mar their murmurings.

+ The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line.

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