ENT 



ENT 





both in assault, day of battle, 8cc. and 

 should noi quit th.mbut with his life; 

 he is always to cany them himself on his 

 left shoulder, only on a march he may 

 have them carried by a soldier. If the 

 ensign is killed, then the captain is to 

 carry the colours in his siead. 



ENTABLATURE, in architecture, is 

 that part of an order which rests on the 

 capital of a column, and comprehends the 

 architrave, frieze and cornice. 



ENTAIL, in liw, signifies fee-tail, or 

 fee in'ailed. See ESTATE. 



ENTIBRTIE denotes the whole, in 

 contradistinction to moiety, which de- 

 notes the half; and a bond, damages, &c. 

 are said to be entire, when they cannot 

 be apportioned. 



ENTIRE tenancy, signifies a sole pos- 

 session ID one nun. 



ENTOMOLOGY is that branch of na- 

 tural nistory that treats of insects. The 

 study of insects has sometimes been ri- 

 diculed as unworthy the attention of men 

 of science ; for this, however, there is no 

 just reason ; though inferior in point of 

 magnitude, yet tiny surpass, in variety of 

 structure and singularity of appearance, 

 all the larger branches of the animal 

 world. No one can examine with an at- 

 tentive eye the subjects of this branch of 

 science without surprise; the great va- 

 riety of forms, the nice adaptation of 

 their parts to the situation in which e.-ich 

 happens to be placed, may excite the 

 amazement of the curious and intelligent 

 mind The same power and wisdom 

 which are manifested in the order, har- 

 mony, and beauty of the heavenly bodies, 

 are equally shown in the formal ion of the 

 minutest insect , each h is received that 

 mechanism of body, those peculiar in- 

 stincts, and is made to undergo those dif- 

 ferent changes, which fit it for its destin- 

 ed situation, and enable it to perform its 

 proper functions. The utility of man\ in- 

 sects, either in their living or dead stat- , 

 as the bee, the crab, the silk worm, co- 

 chineal insect, (see APIS, Coccus, &c.) 

 renders them interesting and import. .nt ; 

 besides tho* diminutive in point of size, 

 they are, in regard to numbers, unques- 

 tionably the most distinguished of the 

 works of nature ; they are to be found in 

 every situation, in water, in air, and in the 

 bowels of the earth ; they live in wood, 

 upon animals, decayed vegetables, and 

 all kinds of flesh, and in every state of its 

 existence down to the most putrid. 



The general characters by which in- 

 sects are distinguished are the following : 

 they are furnished with six or more feet ; 

 VOL. V. 



the muscles are affixed to the internal 

 surface of the skin, which is a substance 

 more or less strong, and sometimes very 

 hard and horny ; they do not breathe like 

 larger animals, by lungs or gills situated 

 in the upper part of the body ; but by a 

 sort of spiracles distributed in a series or 

 row 'on each side the whole length of the 

 abdomen ; tin se are supposed to commu- 

 nicate with a continued chain, as it were, 

 of lungs, or something analogous to the- m, 

 distributed throughout the whole length 

 of the body; the head isfurnisned with a 

 pair of what are termed antennae, or 

 horns, which are extremely different in 

 different tribes, and which by their struc- 

 ture, &c. form a leading character in the 

 institution of the genera into which in- 

 sects are divided 



Writers on natural history formerly in- 

 cluded snails, worms, and the smaller ani- 

 mals, or animalcules, in general, among 

 insects: these are now more properly 

 placed among the tribe vermes, or worm- 

 like animals Late writers have extend- 

 ed this still further, and have very pro- 

 perly excluded almost the entire Linnaean 

 order of Aptera. forming of it a distinct 

 class, under the name of Crustacea. In- 

 sects have also been denominated blood- 

 less animals, which modern discoveries 

 have shewn to be contrary to fact : iiieir 

 blood is generally a colourless sanies. 

 Some of them, as the cimex lectularius, 

 have been frequently used, with the mi- 

 croscope, to exhibit in a striking marine? 

 the circulation of the blood. In this in- 

 sect, with a good glass, the vibrations 

 and contractions of the arteries may be 

 distinctly observed. 



Most insects are oviparous; of course, 

 the first state in which insects appear is 

 that of an ovum or egg. This relates to 

 the generality of insects, for there ;u-e 

 some examples of viviparous insec's, as 

 in the genera Aphis, Musca, &c. From 

 the egg is hatched the insect in i's second 

 or caterpillar state ; this second state lias 

 been usually known by the name of eruca, 

 but Linnaeus has changed it to that of 

 LARVA, which see ; considering it as a 

 sort of masked form, or disguise, of the 

 insect in its complete state. The larvae 

 of insects differ very much from each 

 other, according to the several tribes to 

 which they belong : those of the butterfly 

 and moth tribe (phalaena) are generally 

 known by the name of caterpillars ; those 

 of the beetle (scarabaeus,) except such as 

 inhabit the water, are of a. thick, clumsy 

 form. The larvae of the locust, or grass- 

 hopper, (gryllus,) do not differ very 

 E 



