ENTOMOLOGY. 



much in appearance from the complete 

 insect, except being without wings. The 

 larvae of flies, bees, (musca, apis,) &c. 

 are generally known by the name of mag- 

 gots, and are of thick short form. Those 

 of water beetles (dytiscus) are of highly 

 singular forms, and differ, perhaps, more 

 from that of the complete insect than any 

 others, except those of the butterfly tribe. 

 Some insects undergo no change of shape, 

 but are hatched from the egg complete 

 in all their parts, and they undergo no 

 farther alteration than that of casting 

 their skin from time to time, till they ac- 

 quire the complete resemblance of the 

 parent animal. In the larvae state most 

 insects are peculiarly voracious, as in 

 many of the common caterpillars. In their 

 perfect state some insects, as butterflies, 

 are satisfied with the lightest nutriment, 

 while others devour animal and vegetable 

 substances with a considerable degree of 

 avidity. When the larva is about to 

 change into the crysalis or pupa state, it 

 ceases to feed, and having placed itself in 

 some quiet situation, lies still for several 

 hor.rs, and then, by a sort of effort, it di- 

 vesis itself of its external skin, and imme- 

 diauly appears in the different form of a 

 chrysalis or pupa ; in this state, likewise, 

 the insects of different genera differ al- 

 most as much as the larva. In most of 

 the beetle tribe it is furnished with short 

 legs, capable of some degree of motion, 

 though very rarely exerted. In the but- 

 terfly tribe it is destitute of legs ; but. in 

 the locust tribe it differs very little from 

 the perfect insect, except in not having 

 the wings complete. In most of the fly 

 tribe it is perfectly oval, without any ap- 

 parent motion or distinction of parts The 

 pupa of the bet is not so shapeless as that 

 of flies, exhibiting the faint appearance of 

 limbs. Those of the dragon-fly (libellula) 

 differ most widely from the appearance 

 of the complete insect ; from the pupa 

 emerges the insect in its ultimate form, 

 from which it never changes, nor re- 

 ceives any farther increase of growth. 



Different naturalists have attempted to 

 arrange insects into families and gene- 

 ra, particularly the celebrated Linnaeus, 

 whose arrangement may be thus explain- 

 ed. He has formed them into seven 

 families or orders, composing his sixth 

 class of animals, Insecta : he defines an 

 insect, a small animal, breathing through 

 pores on its sides, furnished with movea- 

 ble antennae and many feet, covered with 

 either a hard crust or a hairy skin. As in- 

 troductory to the distinguishing marks 

 of the orders and genera, it will be ne- 



cessary to enumerate and explain the 

 terms given to the different parts, and the 

 most remaikuble of the epithets applied 

 to them by entomologists. The body is 

 divided into head, trunk, abdomen, arid 

 extremities. 



1. Caput, the head, is in insects, as well 

 as in the vertebral animals, the principal 

 repository of the senses, and contains 

 that most important organ, the brain : 

 externally it is furnished with eyes ; stem- 

 mata ; antennae ; clypeus ; vertex ; mouth; 

 front ; gula. 



Eyes, are situated on each side of the 

 head, and differ much in form and colour 

 in the different insects, and may be con- 

 sidered amongst the most surprising of 

 nature's works ; they are not, us might be 

 at first supposed, mere hemispherical 

 bodies of plane and simple surfaces, but 

 examination proves them to be composed 

 of an immense assemblage of highly 

 wrought hexagonal fascets, each furnish- 

 ed with its proper optic nerve, retina, 8tc. 

 complete for vision : the number of these 

 fascets differs in different species ; in the 

 eye of the common fly 8,000 have been 

 counted, and in that of the libellula or 

 dragon fly about 12,000. 



Stemmata are hemispherical bodies 

 placed upon the vertex, and are suppos- 

 ed to perform the office of eyes. The 

 antennae are two articulated moveable 

 processes, placed on the head ; they are 

 either, 1. Setacea, setaceous, i, e. like a 

 bristle, when they taper gradually from 

 their base to their point. 2. Clavatae, cla- 

 vated, i.e. club-shaped, when they grow 

 gradually thicker from their base to their 

 point. 3. Filiformes, filiform, i. e. thread- 

 shaped, when they are of an equal thick- 

 ness throughout the whole of their length. 

 4. Momlitbrmes, moniliform, . e. of the 

 form of a necklace, when they are of an 

 equal thickness throughout, but formed 

 of a series of knobs, resembling a string 

 of beads. 5. Capitatae, capitate, when 

 they grow thicker towards the point, and 

 terminate in a knob or head. 6. Fis- 

 siles, fissile, i. e. cleft, when they are capi- 

 tate, and have the hea<l or knob divided 

 longitudinally into three or four parts or 

 laminae. 7. Perfoliatae, perforated, when 

 the bead or knob is divided horizontally. 

 8. Pectinatae, pectinated, i. e. resembling 

 a comb, when they have a longitudinal 

 series of hairs projecting from them, in 

 form of a comb. 9. Barbatae, barbed, 

 when they have little projections or barbs 

 placed on their sides : they are either 

 longiores, longer than the body; bre- 

 viores, shorter than the body ; or, me*- 



