316 MOTIONS or INSECTS. 



leg- in a right line. These spines then lay hold of the 

 surface, and by their pressure enable the body to spring 

 forwards, when, being assisted by its wings, it will 

 make astonishing leaps, sometimes as mucli as^five or 

 six feet, which is iliore than 250 times its own length ; 

 or as if a man of ordinary stature should be able at 

 once to vault through the air to the distance of a quar- 

 ter of a mile. Upon glass, where the spines are of no 

 use, the insect cannot leap more than six inches '*. — The 

 species of another genus of this order (Cherincs, L.), 

 that jump very nimbly by pushing out their shanks, are 

 perhaps assisted in this motion by a remarkable horn 

 looking toward the anus, which arms their posterior 

 hip. — Some bugs that leap well, Lj/gceus saltatarius, F., 

 &c., seem to have no particular apparatus to assist 

 them, except that their posterior tibite are very long. 

 — Several of the minute ichneumons also jump with 

 great agility, but by what means I am unable to say.-' — 

 There is a tribe of spiders, not spinners, that leap even 

 sideways upon their prey. One of these {Arantu sec- 

 nica, L., SaUicus, Latr., Aitus, Walck.), when about 

 to do this, elevates itself upon its fore legs, ajid lifting 

 its head seems to survey the spot before it jumps. 

 When these insects spy a small gnat or fly upon a wall, 

 they creep very gently towards it with short steps, till 

 they come within a eonvenient distance, wlien tlsey 

 spring upon it suddenly like a tiger. — Bartram ob^ 

 served one of these spiders that jumped two feet upon 

 a humble-bee. The most amusing account, liowever^ 

 of the motions of these animals is given by the cele- 

 brated Evelyn in his Travels. V/hon at Rome, h<$ 



* J)e Gccr, iii. lib. 



