GN ZOOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, AND THE 



fly ; and the forficula or ear-wig : the last of which is characterized by the 

 singularity of its brooding over its young like a hen, and only leaving them 

 at night, when it roams abroad in quest of food for their support. A few 

 of these, as the lady-bird and ear- wig, are by M. Cuvier taken away from the 

 present order, and, with several of the ensuing, as the cockroach, locust, 

 and grasshopper, carried to a new order, which he has named ornithop- 



TERA. 



The SECOND order op insects, entitled hemiptera or half-crustaceous, 

 and by some writers rhyngota, has the two upper of the four wings some- 

 what hard or shelly, though less so than the preceding, while the two lower 

 wings are for the most part soft and membraaaceous. To this order be- 

 longs the coccus or cochineal insect, the blatta or cockroach, of which the 

 chaffer is a species ; the gryllus or locust, of which one species is the little 

 cheerful chirping cricket ; the cicada or grasshopper, still more celebrated 

 for its musical powers than the cricket ; and the cimex or bug, celebrated 

 also, but for powers which you will, perhaps, spare me from detailing. 



The THIRD order op insects, coleoptera, or scaly-winged, contains 

 but three genera or kinds ; and these are the papilio or butterfly, the pha- 

 laena or common moth, and the sphinx or hawk-moth ; which last has a near 

 resemblance to both the others, and flies with a humming noise, chiefly in 

 the morning and evening, as the moth flies chiefly in the evening and at 

 night, and the butterfly only in the day-time. They have all a general re- 

 semblance to each other, and feed equally on the nectary of flowers : the 

 antennas of the butterflies are mostly knobbed or clubbed at the tip ; those 

 of the moths are moniliform, those of the sphinxes tapering. 



The neuropterous insects, or those with four reticulate or net-work 

 wings, form the fourth order of the Linnean class ; and they may be ex- 

 emplified by the ephemera and hemerobius, the day-fly and May-fly of the 

 angler, those little busy insects that surround us in countless multitudes 

 when we walk on the banks of a river in a fine summer's evening, and the 

 whole duration of whose life, in a perfect state, seldom exceeds two days : 

 and often not more than as many hours ; while it has comparatively a long 

 life in its imperfect state, or previous to its metamorphosis. It is the agna- 

 that of several entomologists This order is not numerous, and I will there- 

 fore only add another example, the libellula or large dragon-fly, so denomi- 

 nated from its ferocity towards smaller insects ; usually seen over stagnant 

 waters, the more common species, libellula Virgo^ possessing a beautiful, 

 glittering, and green-blue body, with wings bluish towards the middle. The 

 larve in its internal parts, is larger than the insect, and catches its prey at 

 a distance, by suddenly darting forward the lower lip. The tracheae, or 

 respiratory organs, are singularly placed at the verge of the tail. It is the 

 ordonata of Cuvier. 



The PiPl-H order of insects comprises the hymenopteka, the piezata 

 of some entomologists, or those possessed of four membranaceous wings ; 

 most of which are armed with a sting at the tail. They of course include 

 the apis and vespa,or wasp and bee. To which I may add th« formica or 

 ant, the ichneumon, and the cynips or gall-fly, to which we are indebted 

 for out gall-nuts, whose peculiarities and habits I shall hereafter have an 

 opportunity of reverting to. 



The SIXTH ORDER OF INSECTS is denominated diptera, and deviates 

 from all the preceding in possessing only two wings instead of four. It 

 includes among others the musca or common fly, the hippobosca or horse- 

 fly, the oesttis or gad-fly, the tipula or father-long-legs, and the culex 



