34 



that's it ; 



are two or four. The nervnres, 9, 

 are air-tubes, and are equivalent 

 to the hol- 

 low bones 

 and quills 

 in the wings 

 of birds. In 

 the beetle tribe the true wings 

 are folded up under the elytra 

 or wing-cases, 

 10. ~Withbut- 

 terfiies and 

 moths, the tis- 

 sues of the 

 wings are co- 

 vered by scales and plumes, 11; 

 These are inserted into the wings 



hundred thousand. Wings some- 

 times consist of a number of 

 feathered mem- 

 branes, 14, like 

 the slips which 

 form a lady's fan. 

 Insects that have 

 only two wings 

 are provided with 

 curious balancers 

 or poisers, 15, 

 beneath the wings. These steady 

 the body while flying ; they are 



] 91 . [Greatly magnified.] 



by short stems. They are often 

 richly coloured, and produce, by 

 their various arrangement, the 

 singular beauty of the wings of 

 butterflies, 12, 13. In a square 



inch of a butterfly's wing, the 

 number of scales exceeds one 



193. 



also supposed to be reservoirs of 

 air. The limbs of the crane-fly, 

 or "daddy long- 

 legs" 16, are 

 slender, and of^ 

 great length. 

 By these the fly 

 is elevated while 

 walking amongst 

 the grass, and 

 is raised, as it 

 were, on stilts, 

 from the dew 

 and other ob- 

 structions. Mies 

 are enabled to 

 walk up glass 

 windows, and a- 

 cross ceilings, 17, 

 because they have in their feet 

 suckers, 18, from which they 

 can exclude the air. They* have 



195. 



