MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 271 



other times in countless swarms : these the busy chil- 

 dren of the day, and those of the night. If you return 

 to your apartment — there are these ubiquitaries — some 

 flying- about — others pacing against gravity up the walls 

 or upon the cieling — others walking* with ease upon 

 the glass of your windows, and some even venturing 

 to take their station on your own sacred person, and as- 

 serting their right to the lord of the creation. 



This universal movement and action of these restless 

 little animals gives life to every part and portion of our 

 globe, rendering even the most arid desert interesting. 

 From their visitations every leaf and flower becomes 

 animated ; the very dust seems to quicken into life, and 

 the stones, like those thrown by Deucalion and Pyrrha, 

 to be metamorphosed into locomotive beings. In the 

 variety of motions which they exhibit, we see, as Cu- 

 vier remarks*, those of every other description of ani- 

 mals. They walk, run, and jump with the quadru- 

 peds ; they fly with the birds ; they glide with the ser- 

 pents ; and they swim w ith the fish. And the provi- 

 sion made for these motions in the structure of their 

 bodies is most wonderful and various. " If I Avas 

 minded to expatiate," says the excellent Derham, " I 

 might take notice of the admirable mechanism in those 

 that creep ; the curious oars in those amphibious in- 

 sects that swim and w alk ; the incomparable provision 

 made in the feet of such as walk or hang upon smooth 

 surfaces ; the great strength and spring in the legs of 

 such as leap ; the strong-made feet and talons of such 

 as dig; and, to name no more, the admirable faculty 

 of such as cannot fly, to convey themselves with speed 



*■ yinatom. Compar.i. 444. 



