MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 271 
scending from them; glancing from flower to flower ; 
now alighting upon the earth and waters, and now leay- 
ing them to follow the impulse of their various instincts ; 
sometimes travelling singly; at other times in countless 
swarms: these the busy children of the day, and those 
of the night. If you return to your apartment—there 
are these ubiquitaries—some flying about—others pacing 
against gravity up the walls or upon the cieling—others 
walking with ease upon the glass of your windows, and 
some even venturing to take their station on your own 
sacred person, and asserting their right to the lord of 
the creation. 
This universal movement and action of these restless 
little animals gives life to every part and portion of our 
globe, rendering even the most arid desert interesting. 
From their visitations every leaf and flower becomes ani- 
mated; the very dust seems to quicken into life, and the 
stones, like those thrown by Deucalion and Pyrrha, to 
be metamorphosed into locomotive beings. In the va- 
riety of motions which they exhibit, we see, as Cuvier 
remarks?, those of every other description of animals. 
They walk, run, and jump with the quadrupeds; -they 
fly with the birds; they glide with the serpents; and 
they swim with the fish. And.the provision made for 
these motions in the structure of their bodies is most 
‘wonderful and various. ‘ If I was minded to expatiate,” 
says the excellent Derham, “ I might take notice of the 
admirable mechanism in those that creep; the curious 
oars in those amphibious insects that swim and walk; the 
incomparable provision made in the feet of such as walk 
~ 3 Anatom. Compar. i. 444. 
