56 MEMBERS OF INSECTS. 



corselet as the second pair of wings, a pair of small 

 members, shaped somewhat like a drum-stick, and 

 protected above by the winglet. These have been 

 called poisers ( 1 ), or balancers, and are supposed by 

 some to aid in balancing the body, by others to pro- 

 duce buzzing, by beating on the winglets, neither of 

 which opinions is proved. The law of proportion 

 proves them, as M. Audouin thinks, to be the second 

 pair of wings, which he proves by the fact of the 

 poisers only occurring in insects having no second 

 pair of wings. 



In moths, the second pair of wings are each fur- 

 nished near the base with a sort of slender, but stiff, 

 horny hook, somewhat curved, which is fixed into a 

 projection of the first pair, by way of bridle ( 2 ). 



In wasps and bees the second pair are bridled to 

 the first pair by minute hooks, in form of an S along 

 the upper edge. 



The wings of some insects are clothed with hair, 

 and others, as butterflies and moths, with a sort of 

 feathery scales ( 3 ), which appear in the microscope of 

 very various forms. These scale feathers are placed 

 over each other like the tiles of a house, are the 

 coloured part of the wing, and easily come off on 

 being touched, in the form of dust. 



The feathery scales from the wings of butterflies and moths, 

 magnified to shew their various forms, from Reaumur. 



(1) In Latin, Halteres. (2) In Latin, Frenum. 



,. (a) In Latin, Plumulce. 



