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CLASS III. INSECTA.* 



WE have now arrived at a Class of animals which 

 commend themselves to our notice on many accounts. 

 First, by their overwhelming numbers ; swarming in 

 countless hosts in every country, from the Equator 

 to the Polar Sea. A hundred thousand species have 

 been already named and described ! The wonderful 

 instincts displayed by many arrest our attention ; 

 the arts and wiles employed in pursuit or escape ; 

 the provident care taken for the future generation ; 

 the admirable skill manifested in constructing their 

 habitations, often superior to anything seen in the 

 higher classes. Many are useful in the arts: pro- 

 viding man with food, with clothing, with medicine, 

 with dyes. The beautiful forms, and brilliant tints 

 with which many are adorned are almost unequalled : 

 multitudes of Beetles shine in green and gold, or 

 metallic crimson, or are even dusted with glittering 

 gems ; some of the Neuroptera have their graceful 

 and slender bodies carried on four long glassy wings, 

 whose exquisitely delicate net-work would shame the 

 finest lace ; while the sylph-like wings of the Butter- 

 flies, covered with a mosaic of the richest hues, ar- 



* /, into, and sectus, cut. 



