296 CLASS V. INSECTS. 



and grows to the length of about eight inches. Its colours 

 are liable to great variations ; some are marked with a fine 

 blue brown, or bright silver; but the predominant colour 

 is that of gold, of , most brilliant appearance. 



In China they are every where kept in the families of 

 the opulent, for amusement, in porcelain vessels. The 

 extreme beauty of their colours and their lively motions 

 afford great entertainment; and on this account we fre- 

 quently see them here confined in glass vases, where they 

 will live for many months without any visible nutriment, 

 provided the water be occasionally changed. 



CLASS V INSECTA, OR INSECTS. 



THE farther we extend our views into nature, the more 

 wonders will attract our notice, and the greater difficulties 

 we shall experience in the research. The larger animals 

 and plants are sufficiently distinguished, and are capable of 

 easy enumeration; but, when we descend to the inferior 

 classes of nature, in either the animal or vegetable king- 

 dom, we find beings multiplying so fast upon us, that the 

 most industrious and inquisitive must be contented to ar- 

 range in masses, rather than attempt to describe in detail. 



The distinguishing characters of insects are, that their 

 bodies are without blood, bones, or cartilages ; that they 

 are covered with a sort of bony substance instead of skin ; 

 that they generally breathe through lateral lungs; and 

 that their heads are commonly furnished with antennae, or 

 horns, 



Though insects are the smallest in the scale of existence, 

 they are certainly not the least interesting. Their minute- 

 ness indeed may at first view sanction an idea of their un- 

 importance; and the ignorant and untutored may thence 

 be led to regard them as the result of chance, and the dregs 

 of nature ; but whoever considers them with due attention, 



