70 EVENINGS AT THE MICROSCOPE, 



CHAPTER V. 



INSECTS : WINGS AND THEIR APPENDAGES. 



I PROPOSE now to reveal to you some of the microscopic 

 marvels of the insect world ; a race vastly more populous 

 than all of the other animate tribes put together ; for the 

 most part so minute as to be peculiarly suitable subjects 

 for our present investigations, and so furnished with 

 elaborate contrivances and exquisite pieces of mechanism, 

 as to elevate our thoughts at every turn to the majesty of 

 the Divine wisdom displayed in the most minute of His 

 creatures. Let us begin with their wings. 



The most perfect fliers in existence are Insects. The 

 swallow and the humming-bird are powerful on the wing, 

 and rapid; but neither these nor any other " winged 

 fowl" can be compared with many of the filmy- winged 

 Insects. The common House-fly, for example, will remain 

 for hours together floating in the air beneath the ceilings 

 of our dwelling-rooms, hovering and dancing from side 

 to side, without effort and without fatigue. It has been 

 calculated that in its ordinary flight the House-fly makes 

 about 600 strokes with its wings every second, and that it 

 is carried through the air a distance of five feet during 

 that brief period. But, if alarmed, the velocity can be in- 

 creased six or seven fold, as every one must have observed, 

 so as to carry the insect thirty, or five and thirty, feet in 

 the second. In the same space of time, observes Mr. 

 Kirby, a race-horse could clear only ninety feet, which is 

 at the rate of more than a mile in a minute. Our little 



