470 THE MICROSCOPE. 



at the elegant disposition of their limbs, the inimitable 

 order of their muscles, and the regular direction of their 

 veins, arteries, and nerves, to what a height is our astonish- 

 ment raised when we discover all these parts arranged in 

 the least of them in the same regular manner ! How is 

 it possible but that we must stand amazed, when we reflect 

 that those little animals, whose bodies are smaller than the 

 point of the dissecting knife, have muscles, veins, arteries, 

 and every other part common to larger animals ! Creatures, 

 so very diminutive, that our hands are not delicate enough 

 to manage, nor our eyes sufficiently acute to see them." 



Want of space forbids anything like an attempt at 

 classification, or arrangement, in this vast and most in- 

 teresting department of natural history: we must, there- 

 fore, content ourselves by noticing a few of their more 

 remarkable peculiarities; at the same time, we would com- 

 mend the whole insect tribe to the rigid scrutiny of the 

 microscopist, abounding as it does in all that is wonderful 

 and beautiful. 



The insect sub-kingdom is divided and sub-divided into 

 many genera and families, the principal of which are 



Lepidoptera; typical forms, Butterfly, Moth. 



Diptera ; typical forms, Fly, Gnat, Gadfly. 



Aptera ; typical forms, Flea, Louse, Springtail. 



Coleoptera; typical forms, Beetle, Water Beetle, &c. 



Orthoptera ; typical forms, Locust, Grasshopper. 



Neuroptera ; typical forms, Dragon-fly, May-fly. 



Hymenoptera ; typical forms, Bee, Wasp, Ant. 



Homoptera ; typical forms, Plant-louse (Aphis), Lan- 

 thern-fly. 



Hemiptera ; typical forms, Water-scorpion, Water-boat- 

 man. 



Insects are characterised by their aerial respiration ; by 

 the division of the body into three very distinct regions 

 of which the middle one, the thorax, bears three pairs of 

 jointed legs, and usually two pairs of wings, represented in 

 fig. 232 and by the possession of a single pair of jointed 

 antennae. The metamorphoses which most of them undergo, 

 before they arrive at the perfect state and are able to fulfil 

 all the ends of their existence, are more curious and striking 

 than in any other department of nature; and in the greater 



