3-12 MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 



would soon go to ruin. But these almost miraculous 

 powers in the hands of these little beings only tend to 

 keep it in order and beauty. Adorable is that Wisdom, 

 Power, and Goodness, that has distinguished these next 

 to nothings by such peculiar endowments for our pre- 

 servation as if given to the strong and mighty would 

 work our destruction. 



After the foregoing marvellous detail of the aerial 

 excursions of our insect air-balloonists, I fear you will 

 think the motions of those which fly by means of wings 

 less interesting. You will find, however, that they are 

 not altogether barren of amusement. Though the wings 

 are the principal instruments of the flight of insects, 

 yet there are others subsidiary to them, which I shall 

 here enumerate, considering them more at large under 

 the orders to which they severally belong. These are 

 wing-cases (Elytra, Tegmina, and Hemelytra) ; winglets 

 (Alulae}:, poisers (Halter es}', tailets (Caudula); hooklets 

 (Hamuli); base-covers (Tegulce], &c. Besides, their tails, 

 legs, and even antennae, assist them in some instances, in 

 this motion. 



As wings are common to almost the whole class, I 

 shall consider their structure here. Every wing consists 

 of two membranes, more or less transparent, applied to 

 each other : the upper membrane being very strongly 

 attached to the nervures (Neurce), and the lower adhe- 

 ring more loosely, so as to be separable from them. The 

 nervures. a are a kind of hollow tube, above elastic, 

 horny, and convex ; and flat and nearly membranaceous 



* French naturalists use this term (nervure} for the veins of wings, 

 leaves, &c. restricting nerve (nerf) to the ramifications from the brain 

 and spinal marrow. We have adopted the term, which we express 

 in Latin by ncura, from the Greek vtv^tt,. 



