SECRETARY'S REPORT. 129 



funiislicd with spines or spurs toward the tip, as shown at F ; 

 E, the tarsus, or foot, which varies in the numbers of joints in 

 different insects from two to five, and the last joint is furnished 

 usually with two claws at its tip ; in some insects it has only 

 one, however, and in a few others they appear to be wanting. 



[Note. — Miiny of the orjians of insects are so concealed within other jKirts 

 as to be unnoticed by the general observer; of tliese an explanation will ))e 

 given in cases where it becomes necessary to refer to them. The names of 

 genera and species will also be defined where it is practicable, and the appro- 

 priateness of these, in general, will be obvious ; it is however to be regretted, 

 that some few names, either arbitrary or of obscure derivation, have been 

 applied without sufficient pertinence to make them characteristic of the indi- 

 viduals which they represent. Long association and usage, however, render it 

 undesirable if not impossible, to change them, and we can only endeavor in the 

 present to avoid the faults of our predecessors, and explain what we niiiy of 

 the technicalities ; leaving the barbarous and crabbed nomenclature of the 

 lathers of the science, as a partial excuse for students of later date who have 

 so far exhausted their descriptive vocabularies, as to have recourse to naming 

 objects of nature in honor of some more or less celebrated naturalist, patron, 

 or friend.] 



GLOSSARY. 



Ahdomen. The hinder part of the body. 



Antenna, plural, Antenna}. (From the Latin, meaning the yards of a vessel.) "Horns," 

 or jointed organs of insects, situated on the head. 



Aniirior. The front or foremost member, or part of any member. Posterior. The 

 hinder part ; opposite of anterior. 



Anus. The vent, or fundament. Anal. Belonging to the anus. 



Apex. The point farthest from the body; the tip. 



Article. A joint; used generally of the antennce. Articulated. Composed of articles. 



Base. The point nearest to tlie body, or centre. Basal. Pertaining to the base. 



Breadth.* The greatest distance across the body from side to side. 



Cell, or Cellule. A portion of a wing, surrounded by nerves or veins. 



Cunjluenl. Running together; a meeting of two lines. 



Costa. A rib. Costal. Pertaining to the rib, or thickened anterior margin of the wing. 



Elytron, plural Elytra. The hard fore-wing, or wing-sheath of a beetle. 



Eyes. Organs of vision, composed of a vast number of simple lenses of a six-sided 

 form, and situated on each side of the head. 



Feet'. Generally used in Entomology for legs, the feet proper being called tai-si. 



Fulvous. Tawny; reddish or brownish yellow. 



Fuscous. Dark brown, or blackish, sometimes tinged with gray. 



Jridesctnt. Reflecting the colors of the rainbow. 



Luhrum. The piece covering the mandibles; the upper lip. 



Lenticular. Of thickened, somewhat oval form ; bean-shaped. 



Lunule. A spot or marking resembling in form a crescent or new moon. 



Length.* (When not otherwise specilied.) The distance from the tip of the mandibles 

 to the apex of the abdomen. 



Ocelli. Simple eyes, between the compound eyes, on the upper part of the head. 



• Measurements of insects are usually given in tenths or hundreiitbs of an iiicli. 



17 



