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, 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 lenses! 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 numerous 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. * 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, Search the least path CREATIVE POW'R has trod, * 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, 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:-1. 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; DE LILLE, Ten thousand different tribes Through the green-wood glade : 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, dragonly. 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, Holds multitudes. But chief the forest-boughs, 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, 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 basks 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 †. 6. Scorpio, scorpion. 7. Cancer, crab, lobster, craw-fish, shrimp. 8. Моnoculus, 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, + The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! SPENSER. POPE. L |