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SUPPLEMENT 



as may readily be ascertained on exami lation 

 \vith a moderate magnifier of good defining 

 power. 



Plate 35, fig. 43, represents the trunk of 

 the honey-bee, magnified in the same degree 

 as the preceding object. Swarnmerdam and 

 Reaumur have described this subject at great 

 length ; but as the instruments they used were 

 very deficient in defining power, they were 

 led into hypothetic statements not altogether 

 agreeing with facts more recently ascertained. 

 Their drawings of this insect member are very 

 wide of the truth. Our illustration was copied 

 from a specimen finely prepared in balsam ; 

 and it oilers the best resemblance to the object 

 of any that has hitherto appeared, taking into 

 consideration the limited scale on which it is 

 drawn, which does not admit of extensive de- 

 tail. The reader will at once notice the 

 similarity between the trunk of the bee and 

 that of the elephant ; their mechanism appear, 

 indeed, to be identical so far as it is intended 

 to facilitate the curvature, contraction, and 

 extension of the member. The trunk of the 

 bee is, however, peculiar in its termination, 

 and seems to be so constructed that the insect 

 may fix it, in the manner of a leech, within 

 the nectarium of the flower, and, by alternately 

 contracting and extending the organ, pump 

 or suck up the juices of the blossom. The 

 surface of the member is marked with a num- 

 ber of parallel rings, and covered with a fine 

 hair. The two bodies, one on each side, are 

 a pair of the palpi. 



The legs and feet of insects exhibit most 

 curious and elegant structures, worthy of 

 minute examination by all who take interest 

 in the adaptation of animal members and the 

 mechanical powers which they respectively 

 possess. From a microscopic consideration of 

 the limbs of insects, we ascertain that muscular 

 energy increases as the size of the animal 

 decreases. " The motions of animals are 

 proportioned to their weight and structure ; a 

 flea can leap to the distance of at least two 

 hundred times its own length ; were an ele- 

 phant, a camel, or a horse to leap in the same 

 proportion, their weight would crush them to 

 atoms. The softness of their texture, and the 

 comparative smallriessof their specific gravity, 

 enable insects to fall without injury from 

 heights that would prove fatal to large ani- 

 mals." The legs of insects are named and 

 classed according to the motions for whicl 

 they appear to be principally adapted. "Thus 

 some are named cursoni, from their adaptation 

 lor running ; these are the most numerous. 

 The saltatorii are those that are used for leap- 

 ing ; the thighs of these are remarkably 

 large, by which means they possess consider- 

 able strength and power to leap to great dis- 

 tances. The nataturii are those that serve as 



ars for swimming ; the feet of these are flat 

 nd edged with hairs, possessing a proper 

 surface to strike against the water, as in the 

 It/tiscus, notonecta, &c. Such feet as have 

 10 claws are termed nutici. The chclce, or 

 claws, are an enlargement of the extremity of 

 he fore-feet, each of which is furnished with 

 wo smaller claws, which act like a thumb 

 and finger, as in the crab. The under part 

 of the feet in some insects is covered wilh a 

 und of brush or sponge, by which they are 

 enabled to walk with ease, on the most polished 

 substances, and in situations from which it 

 would seem they must necessarily fall." We 

 give an illustration of this class of objects in 

 plate 34, fig. 24, which exhibits, under a low 

 magnified power, the leg and foot of that 

 voracious aquatic fly, the dytiscus. We have 

 referred principally to the strong claws, or 

 talons, with which it is armed : a more inter- 

 esting feature in this object is the web that 

 surrounds (he foot, this however, from its ex- 

 eedingly complicate structure; could not have 

 been effectively shown on a small scale. 



This cut represents the legs of a bee as 

 developed by a moderate magnifying power. 



The wings and iving cases (elytrd)ot insects 

 form an exceedingly numerous and a highly 

 interesting class of microscopic objects. " The 

 variety in the form and structure of these 

 insect appendages is almost infinite ; the 

 beauty of their colouring, the art with which 

 they are connected to the body, the curious 

 manner in which some are folded up, the finer 

 articulations provided for this purpose, by 

 which they are laid up in their cases when 

 out of use, and yet are ready to be extended 

 in a moment for flight ; together with the 

 various ramifications, by which the nourish- 

 ing juices are circulated, and the wings 

 strengthened, afford a fund of rational inves- 

 tigation highly entertaining : exhibiting, par- 

 ticularly when examine 1 by the microscope, 

 a most wonderful d.spliy of divine wisdom 

 and power. The more delicate and trans- 

 parent wings are covered and protected by 

 elytra, or cases, which are generally hard ami 



