846 MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 
and wonderful, and affords another proof of the extraor- 
dinary powers, unparalleled in the higher orders of ani- 
mals, with which the Creator has gifted the insect world. 
Were indeed man and the larger animals, with their pre- 
sent propensities, similarly endowed, the whole creation 
would soon go to ruin. But these almost miraculous 
powers in the hands of these little beings only tend to keep 
it in order and beauty. Adorable is that Wisdom, 
Power, and Goodness, that has distinguished these next 
to nothings by such peculiar endowments for our preser- 
vation as if given to the strong and mighty would work 
our destruction. 
After the foregoing marvellous detail of the aérial ex- 
cursions of our insect air-balloonists, I fear you will 
think the motions of those which fly by means of wings 
less interesting, You will find, however, that they are 
not altogether barren of amusement. ‘Though the wings 
are the principal instruments of the flight of insects, yet 
there are others subsidiary to them, which I shall here 
enumerate, considering them more at large under the 
orders to which they severally belong. These are wing- 
cases (Llytra, Tegmina, and Hemelytra); winglets 
(Alule); poisers (Halteres) ; tailets (Caudule) ; hooklets 
(Hamulz) ; base-covers ( Tegule), &c. Besides, their tails, 
legs, and even antenna, assist them, in some instances, in 
this motion. 
As wings are common to almost the whole class, I 
shall consider their structure here. Every wing consists 
of two membranes, more or less transparent, applied to 
each other: the upper membrane being very strongly at- 
tached to the nervures (Neure), and the lower adhering 
more loosely, so as to be separable from them, The 
