338 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



and, in a word, give us a minute, but delightful 

 account of everything that is known about the 

 Life of an Insect. 



From this it will be manifest that we have 

 hitherto chiefly listened to the voice of Phy- 

 siology in this little book, although the leading 

 particulars of the Anatomy of the insect in 

 its various stages have also been brought before 

 us. We must now address ourselves for some 

 little time to learn, from the combined sciences 

 of Anatomy and Physiology, the structure and 

 uses of the different organs, and their principal 

 parts, in the insect, in the imago or perfect state. 

 In order to follow the account we shall have 

 to give the reader, it will be convenient to take 

 some common insect, such as a wasp, and fix in 

 the memory the names of the various parts we 

 shall have to distinguish, in thus treating of the 

 imago-insect. A dragon-fly is a good example also. 

 We shall first mention the general arrangement 

 of the insect's structure; and subsequently take 

 up each part separately. 



It must first be mentioned, that insects possess 

 no internal bony skeleton, like that possessed by 

 ourselves and many other animals. If we were 



