176 



Majidibulata.- 



-IXSECTS.- 



-H VBIESOriEEA. 



Iifu — changes nearly as strange, as any read of in tlio 

 Mctamorplioscs of Ovid. 



Tliese changes are, indeed, well called " metamor- 

 jihoses," from a Greek word. An insect deposits 

 an egg, as indeed hirds, reptiles, and fish do ; but the 

 egg, when hatched, generally turns out a creature 

 little, if at all, resembling the parents. This creature is 

 named a grub, or caterpillar, or better still, a larva, 

 from the Latin name for " a mask." The silk-worm 

 is a complete " mask of the moth," and is totally 

 nnlike the soft, scaly, winged creature, which deposits 

 the egg. The larva; eat unceasingly, but change 

 their skins a certain number of times, and at those 

 periods cease to feed. At last they attain their full 

 size, and they change, are metamorphosed — at least 

 most of them, such as Moths and Bulterdies, and 

 Ccetios, and Bees, and Flies are cha-Jgcd — into what 

 is called the jnqya, as unlike the larva as the larva 

 is unlike the mother. These pupaa are often in- 



closed in cocoons. In this state they are quiet, at 

 least generally so, and do not eat ; and it is from this 

 2m2)a that the perfect insect escapes, — a splendid But- 

 terfl}', an active Beetle, a busy Bee, a bustling, hum- 

 ming Fly, called the Imago — see fig. 50. 



Insects are divided into various classes and orders. 

 The classes and orders are important, and stand for, 

 or represent, many great points of structure. 



From the space at his disposal, the author cannot 

 go into this part of the work so minutely as he could 

 wish, llis object will be to present such views of the 

 subject as may at once interest the general reader, and 

 serve to guide the course of those who desire to study 

 it more in detaih 



There are two great and important divisions of 

 insects, and yet at times they imperceptibly run into 

 each other — Mandibulated and llaustellated Insects — 

 according as they have distinct and transverse jaws, or a 

 short or long, straight or bent, proboscis or hauslellum.* 



Division I.— MANDIBULATA {Mandibulated Insecta.) 



I ruEFEi; to begin wiih the IIymexopti;i:a, the order 

 which contains the Ant, llio Bee, and the Wasp. They 

 aie certainly at the head of the insect world. In a 

 strict scientific classification I would begin with the 



Ants ; would go on from them to the Wasps, the Fos- 

 sorcs, and the Bees; and so by Scolia to Clirysis, and 

 tlien Chalcidida:, Ichnoumouida;, Siricidx, and Teu- 

 thrcdinida;. 



Order I.— IIYMENOPTERA. 



The first great order of insects is that of IIymenop- 

 TEitA, so called from their four transparent wings, 

 U//.7IV (hymen) being the Greek word for a membrane, 

 and <!rTif>a (ptera) for wings. They have jaws, though 

 the tongue usually exceeds the jaws in dimension. The 

 most highly developed instincts are observable in some 

 of the insects of this order. 



Wasps make a kind of whitey-brown paper; but, 

 some of the foreign species construct nests of paste- 

 board-like material. 



How regularly, how molhodically, does the bee visit 

 each flower ! Among the I'entland and Braid Hills, on 

 the slopes of lovely Arthur's Seat, on Hampstead and 

 AVeybridgo or Wa.ton Heaths, how pleasant to wander 

 while 



" The wiUlerncss bee gangs floatin' awa." 



Its hum, its motion, seem as much part of the scene, as 

 the spring or summer day. 



TiiiCE— TEREBRANTIA : 



So named from the singular, boring ovipositor of the 

 female in this tribe. By some naturalists this tribe 

 has been made an order. Their caterpillars are very 

 like those of Lepidoptera, and somewhat resemble those 

 of some Lamellicom coleoptora. 



Family— TENTUREDINID^ {The Saw-flics). 



The Saw-flies are a family of insects, some of which 

 are dreaded by the agriculturist. They are a numerous 

 fiimily, and some of them, as the Athalia centlfoUa, 

 occasion at times to the farmer such losses, by its 

 ravages on his turnips, as to ruin him. This insect 

 is sometimes seen flying in countless thousands. They 

 are soft, heavy-looking insects, with wings covering the 

 body in repose. There are forty-five British genera. 

 Tcnthrcdo, Sclandria, Allantus, Emplnjtus, and Lyda, 

 have the greatest number of species. Our figure is 

 that of the Crasus septentrionalis and two of its 

 larvK, copied from Eatzeburg's fine work, " Die Forst. 

 Insekten " — see fig. 51. ' 



Treatises have been written by many authors on the 

 Turnip-fly, the insect to which we have alluded, whose 

 caterpillars eat the leaves of the turnips, and keep the 

 roots from growing. 



Hartig has monogi-aphed the European species, and 

 King has described many exotic species of this famil}'. 

 The character of one of the species, as observed by 



* Of course, the comparative anatomist, and he who dissects 

 minutely the mouth of an insect, will find that haustellated 

 insects have small or ahortive mandibles; and that mandibulated 

 insects, like some Haustellata, have in their perfect state 

 abortive mouths. The horny-jawed caterpillar of the Moth or 

 Butterfly is changed into a haustellated insect, in its imago-stale. 



