THE POET GRAY 
[The following verses descriptive of the Orders and Genera of 
Insects are on the inserted leaves opposite the characters of the 
Orders and Genera as given hy Linnceus. They are a mere piece 
of ingenious trifling, but they illustrate Gray''s easy mastery of 
Latin versification. They were printed hy Mathias in his Works 
of Gray, 18U, vol. ii.p. 570.] 
I. COLEOPTERA 
Alas lorica tectas Coleoptera jactant. 
Antennis Clavatis 
Serra pedum prodit Scarabaeum et fissile comu. 
Dermesti antennae circum ambit lamina caulem, 
Qui caput incurvum timidus sub corpore celat. 
In pectus retrahens caput abdit claviger Hister. 
Occiput Attelabi in posticum vergit acumen. 
Curculio ingenti protendit cornua rostro. 
Silpha leves peltae atque elytrorum exporrigit oras. 
Truncus apex clavae, atque antennula Coccionellae. 
Antennis Filiformihus 
Cassida sub clypei totam se margine condit. 
Chrys'mela inflexa loricse stringitur ora. 
Gibba caput Meloe incurvat, thorace rotundo. 
Oblongus frontem et tenues clypei exerit oras 
(56) 
