INSECTA. 
341 
very different, as veil in its consistence as in its figure, having mere 
rudiments of antennae, or perhaps none at all; there are never any 
compound eyes. 
There is also a great disparity in the organs of manducation, as 
may be easily seen by comparing the mouth of a caterpillar with that 
of the Butterfly, or the mouth of the larva of a Fly with that of the 
perfect Insect. 
Several of these larvae are destitute of feet ; others, such as the 
caterpillars, have many, all the six first excepted, membranous, and 
without terminal hooks. Some Insects, such as the Ephemerae, 
exhibit a singular anomaly in their metamorphosis — the animal 
arrived at its perfect state undergoes another change of tegument (a). 
The Insects which constitute our three first orders preserve for 
life their natal form. The Myriapoda, however, exhibit a kind of 
metamorphosis. At first they have but six legs, or, according to 
Savi, are altogether destitute of them ; the others, as well as the seg- 
ments on which they depend, are developed by age. 
But few Amgetable substances are protected from the voracity of 
Insects ; and as those which are necessary or useful to Man are not 
spared by them more than others, they become very injurious, parti- 
cularly during seasons which favour their multiplication. Their 
destruction greatly depends upon our Augilance and knowledge of 
their habits. Some of them are omnivorous — such are the Termites, 
Ants, &c., whose ravages are but too well known. Several of those 
which are carnivorous, and all the species which feed on dead animal 
and excrementitious matters, are a benefit conferred on us by the 
Author of Nature, and somewhat compensate for the inconvenience 
and injury we experience from the others. Some are employed in 
medicine, the arts, and our domestic economy. 
They have numerous enemies : Fishes destroy many of the aquatic 
species; Birds, Bats, Lizards, &c., deliver us from a part of those 
which inhabit the air or earth. Most of them endeavour to escape 
by flight or running from the dangers that surround them, but soine 
have recourse to stratagem or arms. 
Having undergone their iiltimate transformation, and being pos- 
sessed of all their faculties, they hasten to propagate their species : — 
this aim once accomplished, they soon cease to exist. Thus, each of 
5:^ (a) “ Se depouillent encoi-e de leurs ailes,” is the unguarded expression of our 
author. It is not the wings alone, but the entire animal, after attaining its perfect 
condition, that is thus divested of its external pellicle, even to the slender, setaceous 
appendages which terminate the posterior extremity of the body. It is the common 
May-fly of America. — E ng. Ed. 
