^26 ©F INSECTS IN GENERA! j 



Sect. III. — A comparative vieiv of the Senfes and En» 

 dowments of InfeBs^ with thofe of other Animals, 



X HE more clofelj we examine this clafs of the animal 

 kingdom, the greater number of furprifing facls and 

 wonderful inftincls fliall we find, to indemnify us for 

 thofe large portions of the marvellous, of which we fhall 

 often be obliged to dived their hiilory. Many entjmo- 

 logifts, it muft be allowed, particularly thofe who wrote 

 in the earlier llages of this fcience, before philofophy 

 had thrown much light upon the operations of nature, 

 from a defire ©f filling the reader with the fame admira- 

 tion which they themfelves felt, have much oftener had 

 lecourfe to the marvellous, than can either be juftified 

 by fa6ls or obfervation. Thofe eulogies which we find 

 fo frequently bellowed, without meafure, upon the in- 

 telligence of certain infedls, afford pregnant evidence of 

 this indifcretion. There is hardly any kind of knov/- 

 ledge, endowment, or even moral virtue, of which fome 

 ox other of them has not been faid to be poffeffed. They 

 have been made to act and think like men ; and fome- 

 times have been celebrated for accompliihments of which 

 few of thefe lords of the creation can boaft ; and all this 

 on the mofh puerile and falfe foundations. For example, 

 there is a fpecies of the mantis, with long limbs, and of 

 an uncommon appearance ; and becaufe tliis animal is 

 frequently feen in an ered pofturcj having the two fore 



legs 



