What is an Insect ? 



section of it, we should lind that it forms one continuous tube oi skin which has 

 been fortified bv the deposit of chitin in rings, having connecting rings of thin, 

 supple skin which allows of contraction or distension in length and of lateral 

 curvature of the body, as a whole or in parts. By the attachment of muscles 

 from the hard to the soft rings, such movements are brought under the control 

 of the Insect. This plan of structure allows a considerable amount of elasticitv to 

 the body as a whole. 



The theoretical Insect consists of twenty of th.ese strengthened rings, but 

 the whole twentv are not evident in most cases. Some of them are combined to 

 form the three distinct regions of the body — the head, the for(?-bodv and the hind- 

 bodv — and one or 

 more of the hindmost 

 segments are " tele- 

 scoped" so that thev 

 do not appear except 

 on dissection. It is 

 considered that the 

 four first rings have 

 been consolidated 

 to form the head, 

 which bears I'four 

 pairs of external 

 organs — a pair of 

 jointed feelers ^ or 

 antennae, a pair of 

 compound eyes, and 

 the appendages of 

 the mouth. In like 

 manner the next 

 three segments have 

 been united to form 

 tlie lori' - bodv or 

 thorax, bearing on 

 the lower side the 

 three pairs of legs, 

 and on the upper 

 sid(^ the second iuid 

 third rings bear the 

 two 

 The 

 though 



j)airs of wings, 

 h i n (1 - b od v, 

 theoretically 

 it may have thirteen 

 rings, usualh' consists 

 of ten or eleven, and 

 often of a smaller 



I'ho!,, In 



I-IVE-HORNED KHINOCEROS BeETLE. 



L-'-- 



■ /', i.l.S. 



Many Insects that appiar much aliko to the siipciftcial observer are t'oiind when slightly 

 magiiiricd to exhibit very striking characteristics which render them quite distinct. This 

 photograph of the fore-part of a beetk' is only foiu' times the natural size, but it ennbles us to 

 realize the fearsome appearance it must present to other small creatures. 



