SYSTEM AND CLASSIFICATION 



but, being exceedingly numerous, many fall casu- 

 ally onto the water on windy days and are taken by 

 the fish. The cowdung and the bluebottle are well 

 known examples of this class. 



Sixth: The beetles. The outer parts of these 

 insects are hard and shelly, and the shoulders are 

 united to the body by a flexible joint, which enables 

 them to turn and steer; the two fore legs are at- 

 tached to the shoulder, and the other four to the 

 shelly breast-plate. They have two pairs of wings ; 

 the upper ones, which are hard, stand close to the 

 shoulder-plate and fold over a pair of soft ones and 

 the upper parts of the body. They are of an ob- 

 long or oval shape, more or less flattened. Many 

 of them are bred in the water, and are very natural 

 food for fish. They are a numerous class. 



Seventh: The class of ants consists of many 

 species that live in communities, often of immense 

 numbers, and are dispersed over the fields and 

 woods in places of their own peculiar choice. A 

 portion of each community are annually furnished 

 with wings ; and in the summer season, at their ap- 

 pointed time, these fly off and leave the colony, as 

 bees do their hives. Great numbers of them fly 

 over and fall onto the neighboring streams and are 

 readily nipped up by the fish. The working por- 

 tion of the community have large hawk-like heads, 

 and large oval bodies — which are united by two or 



three comparatively very small shoulder- joints, and 



11 



