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LETTER XXIL 
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. (Larva and pupa.) 
Amoncst the means of defence to which insects have recourse, I have 
noticed their motions, These shall be the subject of the present letter. I 
shall not, however, confine myself to those by which they seek to escape 
from their enemies ; but take a larger and more comprehensive survey of 
them, including not only every species of locomotion, but also the move- 
ments they give to different parts of their body when in a state of repose : 
and in order to render this survey more complete, I shall add to it some + 
account of the various organs and instruments by which they move. 
Whenever you go abroad in summer, wherever you turn your eyes and 
attention, you will see insects in motion. They are flying or sailing every- 
where in the air; dancing in the sun or in the shade; creeping slowly, or 
marching soberly, or running swiltly, or jumping upon the ground ; travers- 
ing your path in all directions ; coursing over the surface of the waters, or 
swimming at every depth beneath ; emerging from a subterranean habita- 
tion, or going into one ; climbing up the trees, or descending from them ; 
glancing from flower to flower ; now alighting upon the earth and waters, 
and now leaving 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 ceiling —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 
animated; the very dust seems to quicken into life, and the stones, like 
those thrown by Deucalion and Pyrrha, to be metamorphosed into loco- 
Motive beings. In the variety of motions which they exhibit, we see, as 
Cuvier remarks 4, those of every other description of animals. They walk, 
Tun, 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 
vartous, “If I was minded to expatiate,” says the excellent Derham, “ I 
might take notice of the admirable mechanism in those that creep; the 
cutlous oars in those amphibious insects that swim and walk; the incom- 
1 Anatom. Compar. i, 444, 
