330 
DIRECTIONS I-'Ott THE MICROSCOPE. 
are universally admired, and esteemed their peculiar ornament; but 
place a butterfly’s wing under a microscope, that avenue to unseen 
glories in new worlds, and you will discover that nature has endowed 
the most: numerous of the insect tribes with the same privilege, null" 
tiplying in them the foams, and diversifying the colouring of this kind 
of clothing beyond all parallel. The rich and velvet tints of the pin* 
mage of birds are not superior to what the curious observer may disco- 
ver in a variety of Lcpiitoplcrn; and those many-coloured eyes which 
deck so gloriously the peacock’s tail are imitated with success by one 
of our most common butterflies. Feathers are thought to be peculiar 
to birds; but insects often imitate them in their antenna?, wings, and 
even sometimes in the covering of their bodies. — We admire with 
reason the coats of quadrupeds, whether their skins be covered with 
pile, or wool, or fur; yet are not perhaps aware that a vast variety <•>’ 
insects are clothed with all these kinds of hair, but infinitely finer and 
more silky in texture, more brilliant and delicate in colour, and mot® 
variously shaded than what any other animals can pretend to. 
“ In variegation bisects certainly exceed every other class of animate! 
beings. Nature, in her sportive mood, when painting them, sometime 5 
imitates the clouds of heaven; at others, the meandring course of the 
rivers of the earth, or the undulations of their waters; many arc 
veined like beautiful marbles; others have the semblance of a robed 
the finest net-work thrown over them : some she blazons with heral- 
dic insignia, giving them to bear in fields sable- — azure — vert — •gules--' 
argent and or, fosses- — -bars — bends — crosses — crescents — stars, and 
even animals. On many, taking her rule and compasses, she draw 5 
with precision mathematical figures: points, lines, angles, triangle 5 ' 
squares, and circles. On others she pourtrays, with mystic hand, wba f 
seem like hieroglyphic symbols, or inscribes them with the character 5 
and letters of various languages, often very correctly formed ; an* 
what is more extraordinary, she has registered in others figures wind 1 
correspond with several dates of the Christian era. 
Nor lias nature been lavish only in the apparel and ornament 
these privileged tribes; in other respects she has been equally U ° J 
sparing of her favours. To some she has given fins like those of f* 5 * 1 ’ 
or a beak resembling that of birds ; to others horns, nearly the con®' 
terparts of those of various quadrupeds. The bull, the stag, the rhi- 
noceros, and even the hitherto vainly sought for unicorn, have in th 15 
respect many representatives amongst insects. One is armed wd 
tusks notunlike those of the elephant; another is bristled with spine 5 ' 
as the porcupine and hedge-hog with quills; a third is an armadillo 115 
miniature; the disproportioned hind legs of the kangaroo give a nio 
grotesque appearance to a fourth ; and the threatening head of 1 
snake is found in a fifth. It would, however, be endless to produce a 
