EXTERNAL ANATOMY OF INSECTS. 589 



trunk, and the intermediate one running straight to the 

 base of the medifurca. 



It may not be without interest to state here some of 

 the several objects and uses of this structure of the 

 trunk. When our Saviour says to his disciples, "But 

 even the very hairs of your head are all numbered" a — 

 he taught them that the attention and care of the Deity 

 were not confined . to the mighty and the vast, but 

 directed to every atom of his creation — that he not only 

 decreed the number and magnitude of the planets and 

 planetary systems, and of their various inhabitants, but 

 that the most minute and apparently insignificant part 

 of each individual, both as to its number and form, was 

 according to the law by him laid down ; and whoever 

 studies them with attention will find that insects furnish a 

 very interesting homily upon this text ; since in various 

 instances I think I have made it clear, that parts seem- 

 ingly of the least importance — as a hair, a pore, or a 

 slight impression — have their appropriate use b . At first, 

 it would seem that the various pieces of which we have 

 seen the second primary segment of the trunk of these 

 animals to be composed, would be of little importance ; 

 but when we reflect that this multiplicity of parts is 

 usually not to be found in those that have no wings, 

 whether they be apterous sexes or tribes c , a suspicion 

 arises in the mind that they must be of more consequence 

 than their prima facie appearance seems to warrant: — and 

 this is really the case. The manitrunk, which is destined 

 principally to incase the muscles that move the arms, 

 did not require to be so complex as the part that had to 

 support the action of wings as well as legs. In those that 



a Luke xii. 7. b See above, p. J597— . c See above, p. 580, 



