CLASS INSECTA. 19 



organ of the male is almost always accompanied by hooks 

 or pincers.* The two sexes generally couple but once, 

 and this copulation even suffices, in some genera, for the 

 fecundation of many successive generations. The female 

 soon lays,-f* and deposits her eggs in the manner most 

 favourable to their preservation, so that the young on 

 coming forth, find suitable aliment within their reach ; 

 sometimes she provisions them herself. These maternal 

 cares frequently excite our surprise, and more particu- 

 larly unveil to us the " instinct of insects." In very numer- 

 ous societies of several of these insects, such as the ants, 

 the termites, the wasps, the bees, &c., the individuals 

 composing the major part of the population, and which by 

 their labours and vigilance maintain these societies, have 

 been considered as neuters, or devoid of sex. They have 

 also been designated as workers and mules. It is known at 

 present that they are females whose sexual organs or ovaria, 

 have not received a perfect elaboration, and which may be- 

 come fruitful, if an amelioration in their nourishment shall 

 develope these same organs at a certain period of their 

 youth. 



The eggs sometimes open in the womb of the mother : she 



* Genitalia mascula senet ; penis, canalis excretoriiis, vesiculae seminales, 

 vasa deferentia, testes; prehensores et semen— Prehemores sunt organa 

 figurii varia quibuscum mas in coitu feminae, anum corripit. Femina?, 

 genitalia sunt; ovarium, receptaculum sua basi formatum, et oviductus. 

 Vide (Siquid amplioris desideratur) M. Dufour, Annales des Sciences Nat. — 

 et dissertatio Latine Scripta, Dom. Hegetschweiler. Zurich, 1820. 



f M. Audouin supposes that, in the case of a great number of insects 

 the eggs are fecundated, on their passage, in a pouch situated near the 

 anus ; but this opinion requires confirmation from experiment. M. Leon 

 Dufour, one of those naturalists who has most particularly studied the ana- 

 tomy of these animals, does not adopt it. 



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