HISTORY OF INSECTS, 



BOOK I. 



INSECTS OF THE FIRST ORDER. 



CHAP. I. 



OF INSECTS IN GENERAL. 



HAVING gone through the upper ranks of Na- 

 ture, we descend to that of insects ; a subject 



1 Insects.^The following is Blummenhach's descrip- 

 tion of Insects. We have already given his account of 

 Birds and of Fishes. 



Insects (he says) derive their name from the circum- 

 stance, that, at least in the perfect state, the head, thorax, 

 and abdomen are separated from one another, as though by 

 incisions, nay, in many cases, seem as though connected 

 only by a thread. Besides this, however, they are dis- 

 tinguished, with a few exceptions among the Genera of 

 the Apterous Order, by peculiar ;md often very sensible or- 

 gans, which, in the perfect state, are affixed to the head, 

 (Antennae or feelers,) which are always articulated at the 

 root and, in addition, often, formed into several joints; 

 and lastly, by their horny, jointed legs, the number 

 being always greater than in other animals; in perfect in- 

 sects at least six, and in many instances, as many as one 

 hundred and fifty, &c. 



These characters excepted, insects, in general, have 

 but little in their external appearance that is common to 

 all. The almost incalculable number of species, the 

 endless variety of offices they are destined to perform, 

 and the consequent difference of their modes of life, 

 wants, &c. require an extreme diversity in their forms, 

 in which respect, as well as in the inequality of their 

 sizes, we find remarkable contrasts. 



Even their external coverings are much more diver- 

 sified than is the case among other animals. Many are 

 protected by a horny coat, composed of several portions, 

 moving on one another like the pieces of a gauntlet, 

 which serve to secure them from the effects of various 

 accidents, and to compensate the deficiency of bones, 

 which in other animals afford attachment to muscles, &c. 

 Many are covered with fine hairs, and in butterflies, &c. 

 the wings with little feathers or rather scales, which are 

 occasionally of most beautiful colours : indeed, I may 

 remark, that many animals of undescribable beauty are 

 included in this class. 



Insects also differ materially from other animals, with 

 regard to the disposition of their organs of sense, and, pro. 

 uahly, their mode of sensation, insomuch that, many 

 naturalists have refused them certain of our external 

 senses, as hearing and smell ; but without justice, as the 



almost inexhaustible, from the number of its 

 tribes, and the variety of their appearance. 

 Those who have professedly written on this 

 subject, seem to consider it as one of the great- 

 est that can occupy the human mind, as the 

 most pleasing in animated nature. " Alter 



former clearly exists in many which emit certain sounds, 

 as an enticement at the time of breeding, and the latter 

 in a still greater number, which are capable of smelling 

 out their food, though hidden. 



The eyes of insects are particularly remarkable, arid 

 with respect to their structure, are of two kinds. The 

 first are large hemispheres, mostly composed of thousands 

 of facets, but in some instances, of numerous conical 

 points, and covered on the inner surface with a layer 

 sometimes glittering, sometimes variegated. Such are 

 found in most winged insects, but also in many Aptera, 

 as the lobster, &c. Those of the second kind (stemma- 

 ta, ocelli,) are simple, small, and vary as well in num- 

 ber as position. Eyes of the first kind seem calculated 

 for seeing at a distance ; of the second, for looking at 

 near objects ; at least it may be supposed so, as we find 

 that butterflies, in their winged perfect state, have such 

 large, compound, telescopic eyes, whilst as caterpillars, 

 they have small myopic ones. Only a few insects, 

 crabs, for instance, can move their eyes. 



The Antennse (feelers) which vary much in different 

 species, in many instances even according to the sex, 

 and which many naturalists have supposed to be organs 

 of smell, taste, &c., seem to be nothing more than their 

 name implies organs of feeling, probes, which are of 

 great importance to insects on account of their hard, in- 

 sensible covering, and the immobility of their eyes in 

 most instances. They appear to possess their most acute 

 feeling in the Antennae, as man has in the tips of the 

 fingers ; and as for the most part they live in darkness, 

 supply the want of light by this contrivance. On the 

 other hand, the purposes of the Palpi, placed near the 

 organs of mastication, found in almost all insects, and 

 considered by some naturalists to be organs of sense, are 

 as yet undetermined. 



In their internal structure also, insects differ ma- 

 terially from red-blooded animals. For instance, what 

 has been considered as a heart in caterpillars, is a long 

 canal of unequal width, placed along the back, but with- 

 out any vessel arising from it ; consequently, the nutrition 

 of these insects must be effected in a peculiar manner, 

 totally different from that of red-blooded animals. On 



