INTRODUCTION TO ENTOMOLOGY. 



" On reconnaitra partout Tempreinte de cette INTELLIGENCE 

 ADORABLE, qui crayonna, de la meme main, THomme et la 

 Mouche." BONNET, Contemp. de la Nature. 



INSECTS form a portion of that extensive department 

 of animated nature known by the name of Articulated 

 animals. They are so called on account of being 

 composed of joints or segments, a structure which 

 renders their bodies pliant, and thus compensate? 

 for one of the inconveniences that would otherwise 

 arise from the want of a vertebral column. Some 

 ancient authors designated them by the term annulata 

 - quasi in annulos secta and they are frequently de- 

 scribed in modern works as annulose animals. They 

 are now referred to five great classes : 1. Annelides, 

 such as leeches and earthworms ; 2. Crustacea, such 

 as lobsters and crabs ; 3. Arachnides, such as spiders 

 and scorpions ; 4. Myriapodes, consisting of juli and 

 scolopendrse ; 5. Insecta, containing beetles, butter- 

 flies, &c. 



The term insect has likewise been suggested by 

 the structural peculiarity just alluded to, the trans- 

 verse divisions causing the body to appear intersected 

 or cut into ; and the Latin word insectum, from 



