4 PLINY- S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI. 



of those senses) of the powers of hearing, smelling, and tast- 

 ing, as well as those other precious gilts of Nature, address, 

 courage, and skilfulness ? That these creatures have no blood 8 

 I am ready to admit, just as all the terrestrial animals are not 

 possessed of it ; but then, they have something similar, by way 

 of equivalent. Just as in the sea, the saepia 9 has a black 

 liquid in place of blood, and the various kinds of purples, those 

 juices which we use for the purposes of dyeing ; so, too, is every 

 insect possessed of its own vital humour, which, whatever it 

 is, is blood to it. While I leave it to others to form what 

 opinion they please on this subject, it is my purpose to set 

 forth the operations of Nature in the clearest possible light, 

 and not to enter upon the discussion of points that are replete 

 with doubt. 



CHAP. 3. (4.) THE BODIES OF INSECTS. 



Insects, so far as I find myself able to ascertain, seem to 

 have neither sinews, 10 bones, spines, cartilages, fat, nor flesh; 

 nor yet so much as a frail shell, like some of the marine ani- 

 mals, nor even anything that can with any propriety be 

 termed skin ; but they have a body which is of a kind of inter- 

 mediate nature between all these, of an arid substance, softer 

 than muscle, and in other respects of a nature that may, in 

 strictness, be rather pronounced yielding, 11 than hard. Such, 

 then, is all that they are, and nothing more : 12 in the inside 

 of their bodies there is nothing, except in some few, which 

 have an intestine arranged in folds. Hence it is, that even 

 when cut asunder, they are remarkable for their tenacity of 

 life, and the palpitations which are to be seen in each of their 

 parts. For every portion of them is possessed of its own 

 vital principle, which is centred in no limb in particular, but 



8 Cuvier remarks, that they have a nourishing fluid, which is of a white 

 colour, and acts in place of blood. 



9 The dye of stepia, Cuvier remarks, is not blood, nor does it act as such, 

 being an excrementitious liquid. It lias in addition a bluish, transparent, 

 blood. The same also with the juices of the purple. 



10 << Nervos." Cuvier says that all insects haA r e a brain, a sort of spinal 

 marrow, and nerves. 



11 "Tutius." 



12 Insects have no fat, Cuvier says, except when in the chrysalis state ; 

 but they have a fibrous uesh of a whitish colour. They have also viscera, 

 trachea, nerves, and a most complicated organization. 



