The History of Insects, 1 73 



which all the information to be derived from Reaumur, Huber, &c. is 

 agreeably detailed. This is followed by an account of the Humble Bee, 

 and some other species, which, from the mode in xvhich they form their 

 dwellings, have been named the Carpenter, Mason, and Upholsterer Bees. 

 Much that is curious concerning these little artisans has been culled from 

 the stores of scientific writers, which must be read with interest by those 

 to whom this branch of science is new. Then follow the Wasps, and the 

 wonderful republics of the Ants, detailed with the same interest, and in 

 the same tone of good feeling by which the whole is characterized ; and 

 the volume concludes with the liistory of some caterpillars, and their mode 

 of forming their retreats previous to their transformations. As the best 

 recommendation of the work, to which we wish all possible success, we give 

 an extract, containing some curious particulars of the Dragon-fly, so com- 

 mon near all our marshes in the summer months. 



" Another and a most destructive enemy of the living insect is the tribe 

 of libellulaf or dragon-fly, a name which they well merit from their voraci- 

 ous habits. 



" The French have chosen to call them ' demoiselles,' from the slim 

 elegance and graceful ease of their figure and movements. But, although 

 their brilliant colouring, the beauty of their transparent and wide-spread 

 wings, may give them some claim to this denomination, yet they scarcely 

 would have received it had their murderous instincts been observed. So 

 far from seeking an innocent nurture in the juice of fruits or of flowers, 

 they are (says Reaumur) warriors more ferocious than the Amazons. They 

 hover in the air only to pounce upon other insects, which they crush with 

 their formidable fangs ; and if they quit the banks of the rivulet, where 

 they may be seen in numbers during an evening walk, it is only to pursue 

 and seize the butterfly or moth, which seeks the shelter of the hedge. 



*' The waters are their birth-place ; their eggs are protruded into this 

 element at once, in a mass which resembles a cluster of grapes. The larva 

 which comes out of these eggs is six-footed. The only difference between 

 the larva and nymph is, that the latter has the rudiments of wings packed 

 up in small cases on each side of the insect. 



*' In this latter state it is supposed that the creature lives at the bottom of 

 the water for a year. It is equally voracious then as in its perfect state. 

 Its body is covered by bits of leaf, wood, and other foreign matters, so a^ 

 to afford it a complete disguise, while its visage is concealed by a prominent 

 mask, which hides the tremendous apparatus of serrated teeth, and serves 

 as a pincer to hold the prey while it is devoured. 



" Its mode of locomotion is equally curious ; for though it can move in 

 any direction, it is not by means of feet or any direct apparatus that it 

 moves, but by a curious mechanism, which has been well illustrated by 

 Reaumur and Cuvier. If one of these nymphs be narrowly observed in 

 water, little pieces of wood and other floating matters will be seen to be 

 drawn towards the posterior extremity of the insect, and then repelled ; at 

 the same time that portion of its body will be observed alternately to open 

 and shut. If one of them be placed in water which has been rendered 

 turbid by milk, or coloured with indigo, and then suddenly removed into 



