CHAPTER V. 

 INSECTS. BEETLES. 



THE next division of invertebrated animals exceeds all 

 the other classes in numbers of species and individuals, 

 variety and elegance of outline, and beauty and rich- 

 ness of colouring and clothing. It includes all those 

 articulated forms of animal life which the earlier 

 systematists grouped together under the general de- 

 signation of Insects so called from the insertions .of 

 their bodies into annular divisions or segments. The 

 outward covering of insects is more or less firm in 

 the different species and, like the internal skeleton of 

 vertebrates, affords the requisite points of attachment 

 for their muscles, the number of which is so great that 

 we have nothing to equal it in the higher animals. 

 From the immortal Lyonnet, whose study of the 

 anatomy of a single species was carried on with rare 

 patience and perseverance for many years, we learn 

 that the caterpillar of the Goat moth, for the due per- 

 formance of all its various functions, requires not less 

 than seven times the number of muscles that are found 

 in man! 



The transformations of insects are among the most 

 interesting wonders in Natural History appreciable by 

 the unassisted eye first an egg, deposited under con- 

 ditions unerringly calculated by supreme intelligence 

 to ensure its protection ; then the Grub or Larva, 

 which, on leaving the egg, finds itself at once sur- 

 rounded by an abundant supply of the very food on 

 which it is destined to thrive ; next the pupa, securely 

 lodged in a silken cell, which it has already constructed 

 as if in anticipation of its future use ; and, lastly, after 

 a longer or shorter period of repose, during which 

 other important changes are in silent progress, the 



