60 THE APTERA. 



The insect I allude to, is that mentioned by Dame 

 Quickly in describing the death of Sir John Falstaff, 

 " 'A saw a flea sticking upon Bardolph's nose." In 

 this order fAphanipteraJ the mandibles appear like 

 two little plates : the maxUlse and tongue assume 

 the form of lancets, and the labrum and palpi are 

 altogether different. 



One insect still remains, belonging to the order 

 Aptera ; but I shall let Shakspeare himself intro- 

 duce it to your notice. The passage I shall quote 

 is from the opening scene of the " Merry Wives of 

 Windsor," in which Justice Shallow, Slender, and 

 Evans are holding forth on the importance of Shallow 

 and his family, on his being " a gentleman bom," 

 and writing himself " Armigero : " — 



" Shallow.— Ay, that I do, and have done so any time these 

 three hundred years. 



Slender.— All his successors gone before him have done it, 

 and all his ancestors that come after him may : they may give the 

 dozen white luces in their coat. 



Shallow. — 'Tis an old coat. 



Evans. — The dozen white louses do become an old coat well: 

 it agrees well passant ; it is a familiar beast to man, and signifies 

 love." 



Swammerdam, who died in 1681, is the latest 

 naturalist I have heard of, who has paid any attention 

 to the structure or anatomy of the genus. His words 

 are, " The louse has neither beak, teeth, nor any 

 kind of mouth, as Doctor Hook described it, for the 



