§4 THE PHILOSOPHY 



No Other animals but the infect tribes have more than tw© 

 eyes. Some of them have four, as the phalangium ; others, 

 as the fpider and fcorpion, have eight eyes. In a fev%^ infe(ib, 

 the eyes are fmooth ; in all the others, they are hemifpheri- 

 cal, and confifl: of many thoufand diil>ri6l lenfes. The eyes 

 are abfolutely immoveable : But this defect is fupplied by 

 the vaft number of lenfes, which, from the diverfity of their 

 portions, are capable of viev/ing objefts in everv diredlion. 

 By the f nallnefs and convexity of thefe lenfes, which pro- 

 duce the fame effect as the object glafs of a microfcope, in- 

 fects are enabled to fee bodies that are too minute to be per- 

 ceived by the human eye. 



Another peculiarity deferves our notice. No animal, ex- 

 cept a numerous tribe of four-v/inged infects, have more than 

 two wings. 



"With regard to fex, quadrupeds, birds, and fiflies, are dif- 

 Hnguifhed into males and females. But the bee and the ant 

 furnifli examples of neuters, which are abfolutely barren : 

 And the earth-worm, and feveral lliell infers, are herma- 

 phrodite, each individual pofTeffing the prolific powers of 

 both male and female. 



It is like wife remarkable, that all winged infects undergo 

 three metamorphofes or changes of form : The egg is dii- 

 charged from the body of the female in the fam.e manner 

 as in other oviparous animals. By a wonderful inftin<St, 

 thefe feemingly ftupid creatures uniformly depofit their eggs 

 on fuch animal or vegetable fubftances as furnifli proper 

 food for the v/orm or caterpillar, that is to be hatched by 

 the heat of the fun. The worm or caterpillar is the iirft 

 l^ate. The bodies of caterpillars are foft and moift. They 

 have no wings, and are totally deprived of the faculty of 

 generation. After continuing for fome time in this reptile 

 ftate, they are transformed into a chryfalis, which is drier 

 and harder than the caterpillar. The chryfalis of fome 



