CLOTHING OF ANIMALS 71 



The members of the great group of animals 

 which we call Insecta, or Insects, do not have a 

 backbone, and are of course numbered, like the 

 Crustacea, among the Invertebrates, or animals 

 that do not possess a vertebra. 



Insects then are clothed in a horny skin, and 

 whereas some have hard coats of mail (such as the 

 Beetles), some have soft clothing which still 

 appears well calculated to serve them sufficiently, 

 whilst the handsome Stag Beetle, for example — 

 beloved by boys whose curiosity is aroused by the 

 handsome appearance of the male — is clothed in 

 a horny garb, and is a really wonderful member of 

 the Coleoptera. The Glow Worm— which is also 

 a Beetle and not a Worm — is soft-bodied, and 

 instances might be multiplied. 



The MoUusca, or Shellfish, possess hard calcare- 

 ous shells in which to hide their soft bodies, and 

 the Oyster, the Mussel, the Whelk, and the Limpet 

 need only be mentioned in passing. The Sea 

 Urchin is a marine representative of the terrestrial 

 Hedgehog, but the Urchin is a more complex and 

 marvellous creature than his cousin upon land, 

 and every tiny portion of the " test " or shell is 

 worthy of examination through a good micro- 

 scope. We have thus briefly run through the 

 clothing of the chief groups of animals, omitting 

 many of the lower forms of animal life, which it is 

 not necessary to detail, and must now pass on to 



