NATURAL HISTORY. 483 



Class IX. . . INSECTA. (Lat. Jnsccarc, to cut into.) 



Sub-class I. INSECTA MANDIBULATA. (Lat mandare, to chew.) 



Order!. . . COLEOPTRA.(Gr. KoAeo'f, a sheath; -nripov, a 



wing.) 

 Family I. . . Cicindelida;. (Lat. a Gloivworm.) 



CICTNDELA. 



Campestris (Lat. of the fields), tlie Tiger-beetle. 



The body of an insect is divided or cut into three parts, 

 called the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. The body is 

 defended by a horny integument, divided into rings and con- 

 nected by a softer membrane. The legs are six in number. 

 Many insects possess wings, and in all the rudiments of those 

 organs are perceptible. The eyes are compound, that is, a 

 number of eyes are massed together at each side of the head ; 

 and so numerous are they, that in the compound eyes of the 

 ant are 50 lenses, in the house-fly, 8,000, in the butterfly, 

 17,000, and in the hawk-moth, 20,000. 



The insects pass through three transformations before they 

 attain their perfect form. The first state is called the larva,* 

 because the future insect is masked under that form; the 

 second is called the pupa$ on account of the shape often as- 

 sumed ; and the third is called the imago,$ as being the image 

 of the perfect creature. Insects breathe by means of air-tubes, 

 called tracheae, which penetrate to every part of the body, 

 even to the extremities of the limbs, antennae and wings. 

 The air gains access to the tubes by means of small apertures 



From Lat. Larva, a mask. 



From Lat. Imago, an image or effigy. 



t From Lat. Pupa> a doll. 



