4 
pliny's natural history. 
[Book XT. 
of those senses) of the powers of hearing, smelling, and tast- 
ing, as well as those other precious gifts of ISTatnre, address, 
courage, and skilfulness ? That these creatures have no blood ^ 
I am ready to admit, just as all the terrestrial animals are not 
possessed of it ; but then, they have something similar, by way 
of equivalent. Just as in the sea, the ssepia^ has a black 
liquid in place of blood, and the various kinds of purples, those 
juices which we use for the purposes of dyeing ; so, too, is every 
insect possessed of its own vital humour, Vhich, whatever it 
is, is blood to it. While I leave it to others to form what 
opinion they please on this subject, it is my purpose to set 
forth the operations of Nature in the clearest possible light, 
and not to enter upon the discussion of points that are replete 
with doubt. 
CHAP. 3. (4.) THE BODIES OF IITSECTS. 
Insects, so far as I find myself able to ascertain, seem to 
have neither sinews, bones, spines, cartilages, fat, nor flesh ; 
nor yet so much as a frail shell, like some of the marine ani- 
mals, nor even anything that can Vvdth any propriety be 
termed skin ; but they have a body w^hich is of a kind of inter- 
mediate nature between all these, of an arid substance, softer 
than muscle, and in other respects of a nature that may, in 
strictness, be rather pronounced yielding, than hard. Such, 
then, is all that they are, and nothing more : in the inside 
of their bodies there is nothing, except in some few, which 
have an intestine arranged in folds. Hence it is, that even 
Avhen cut asunder, they are remarkable for their tenacity of 
life, and the palpitations which are to be seen in each of their 
parts. For every portion of them is possessed of its own 
vital principle, which is centred in no limb in particular, but 
^ Cuvier remarks, that they have a nourishing fluid, which is of a white 
colour, and acts in place of blood. 
^ The dye of sfepia, Cuvier remarks, is not blood, nor does it act as such, 
being an excrementitious liquid. It has in addition a bluish, transparent, 
blood. The same also with the juices of the purple. 
10 « Nervos." Cuvier says that all insects have a brain, a sort of spinal 
marrow, and nerves. 
"Tutius." 
^2 Insects have no fat, Cuvier sa5^s, except when in the chrysalis state ; 
but they have a fibrous flesh of a whitish colour. They have also viscera, 
trachea, nerves, and a most complicated organization. 
