G2 ALPHABET OF INSECTS. 



experiment, when adduced, shall receive our attention ; until 

 then, our own positive knowledge, and the corroborating testi- 

 mony of all great naturalists, will inAxxce us to believe, as before, 

 that insects use antennae as feelers, and not as ears. The idea 

 that it will direct attention more decidedly to them, by at once 

 terming them ears, is erroneous. If you assign an improbable, 

 we may say, impossible use to any member, it merely excites 

 ridicule, not attention. We could readily prove that the 

 antennse are feelers, if it were an object of importance ; but 

 the occasion before us does not call for argument. 

 We proceed : — 



" Each bone of other animals, moreover, is well known by a dis- 

 tinct name : but the pieces of the skin in insects have only been 

 recently examined ; and the few names already given to the pieces 

 are not well determined, and still in much confusion." P. 20. 



We know not whether the Professor be really ignorant of 

 the profound, accurate, and invaluable labours of entomologists 

 on the '•' pieces of the skin" (what an expression!), or whether 

 he fancies he has detected some error in them : we strongly 

 suspect the former. This, however, we do know, that the 

 subject is one which has been thoroughly and most satisfac- 

 torily elaborated. 



" The human skin is formed of three layers, the scarf skin, the 

 mucous net-work, and the inner skin. In insects only two layers 

 are usually obvious, the inner somewhat resembling the mucous net- 

 work of the human skin, and, like that, being the membrane of 

 colour." P. 21. 



We have the learned work before us, from which these 

 observations are taken : it is a most valuable and accurate 

 remark, but is not applied to insects. It refers to Annelida, a 

 totally different class of animals ; and it happens, most unfortu- 

 nately, to be the exact opposite of what holds good in insects, 

 as our Professor would have perceived further on in the same 

 work. The colouring matter is the uppermost coat of all in 

 insects, and is spread very thinly over the surface ; so much so, 

 that it may often be scraped off with a knife, or even washed 

 off with spirits of wine. 



*' A considerable number of insects are clothed with hair or down, 

 inserted, as in other animals, into the skin. It seems useful in keep- 



