190 THE HARMONIES OP NATURE. 



purpose of protection, and, shaped into myriads of graceful 

 forms, frequently glows with the most vivid colours. A robe 

 more beautiful and appropriate than this cannot possibly be 

 imagined. 



A closer examination of the insect-skeleton shows us that it 

 consists of a number of rings or segments, either distinct or 

 soldered together, and forming three principal parts the head, 

 the breast or thorax, and the abdomen. The head, which has 

 generally the form of a hollow globe, is the product of at least 

 three segments moulded into one, and contains the organs of 

 mastication, the antennae, and the eyes ; the thorax invariably 

 consists of three rings or segments, and bears the single or double 

 pair of wings which most of the perfect insects possess, as well 

 as the three pair of feet with which all of them are furnished ; 

 the abdomen, finally, is formed of a larger number of distinct 

 segments, freely moveable one above the other. 



Such is the ground-plan according to which the skeleton of 

 all insects is constructed, but their forms are varied to answer 

 an infinite variety of wants : for the insects gnaw and devour 

 all organic substances without exception ; they feed upon the 

 whole vegetable kingdom, from the palm to the lichen, and 

 from the hardest root to the most delicate blossom. They 

 are not only at perpetual feud among themselves, but engaged 

 in constant war with the higher animals ; they inhabit every 

 climate ; they select every conceivable dwelling-place, from the 

 caverns of the subterranean world to the pinnacles of the Alps ; 

 and thus we can conceive the endless varieties of structure, 

 of instruments, and weapons which the immense range of 

 their existence naturally requires. 



More than one hundred thousand different species of insects 

 have already been described by entomologists, and each of them 

 is distinguished from its nearest relations by some modification 

 of structure best adapted to its peculiar sphere of life. The 

 most retentive memory would be utterly unable to embrace 

 this amazing variety of forms ; and yet a vast number of insects 

 is still utterly unknown, and their countless legions constitute 

 but a part of the animated beings that people our little earth 

 itself but a speck in the boundless universe ! How wondrous 

 are the works of the Creator how beyond all human conception 

 His wisdom and His power ! 



