146 
and this obfervation alone would be fufficient 
to recommend to our attention the hiftory of 
the infect now under confideration. It would 
take too much compas in this place to defcribe 
the furprifing alterations which happen in the 
mempbranaceous wings of butterflies, and how 
evidently nature manifefts herfelf, and exhibits 
her wonderful powers in thefe minute crea- 
tures: certainly the great and wife fovereign 
of the univerfe made every thing for our ufe, 
and to his own glory. All his creatures, the 
leaft as well as the greateft, furnifh us with 
proofs of his gracious intentions, his ftupen- 
dous majefty, and the immenfity of his power. 
We therefore, on obferving the mutations 
and tranfpofitions of the growing parts of 
man and other animals, may well cry out with 
the royal prophet: .‘“ My fubftance was not 
“ hid from thee, when I was made in fecret 
** and curioufly wrought in the loweft parts 
“© of the earth. Thine eyes did fee my fub- 
“ ftance, yet being unperfect; and in thy 
“* book all my members were written, which 
«< in continuance were fafhioned, when as yet 
“ there was none of them. How precious 
“ alfo are thy thoughts unto me, O God! 
“* how great is the fum of them !” 
Hence we may juftly declare, that infects, 
even under this miferable ftate of mortal life, 
acquire as it were a heavenly exiftence; for 
Go Aol 
He BOOK of NAG UR R 
or, 
thofe which in the former part of their life 
inhabited the earth, lived in mud, and undez 
thorns and briers, and fed on coarfe provifions, 
in their more perfect ftate, raife themfelves 
into the purer air, and flying towards the skies, 
maintain themfelves with honey and oozing 
liquors of flowers: fome of them can even 
abftain from food during many months. Are 
not all thefe conditions much better than thofe 
to which they were fubject under the troubles 
and anxieties of a former more vile earthly . 
life ? but I thall illuftrate thefe fubje@ts more 
fully,when I have leifure, in order thence to 
demonttrate the glorious refurreGtion of the 
dead, by the moft evident and palpable proofs 
drawn from nature; for I can produce fuch 
manifeft examples and fuch powerful argu- 
ments for the purification and fucceeding glo- 
rification of bodies, from the hiftory of infeéts, 
that I do not doubt but fuch unheard-of mira= 
cles will ftrike all mankind with the higheft 
amazement. Natural truths are perfectly con- 
vincing and wholly divine; fince what is true 
proceeds from God, who is truth itfelf. And 
what is more true, than that the books of nature 
are thofe vifible things, by the afliftance of ' 
which, as by facred fteps, we afcend by various 
advances, to divine and eternal truths? for it is 
God himfelf who is the author of Nature, 
P. VI. 
The difference between the male and female Rhinoceros Beetle, after the Nymph 
cafts its fein, and is changed into either of them. Of the points of refpiration, 
the eyes, the brain, the optic nerves, the pulmonary tubes and pueumatick 
bladders. .Of the heart, and of the genital organs of the male and female, 
with a moral conclufion. 
P [ \HE Nymph of this curious Beetle be- 
ing difengaged from its skin, in the 
manner explained in the preceeding chapter, 
afflumes a quite different form, in which it is 
dignified with the name of the Beetle; whofe 
internal parts, with the difference between the 
male and female, I am now about to defcribe. 
Before 1 begin this explanation, I mutt obferve 
that the Nymphs, which have their horn pro- 
minent in the fore part, always become male 
Beetles in this fpecies; but fuch as have no 
horn always females: and there are very cer- 
tain external fins for diftinguifhing the fex of 
thefe infects. Befides, the males, which have 
{maller bodies than the females, have alfo two 
larger and more beautiful horns *, whofe tops 
have knobs thereon made like combs; and, 
when the creature is flying, they are expanded 
in the manner of the leaves of an open book : 
this is a very wonderful fight in fome of the 
Beetle kind. But as fome remarkable things 
occur, which are common to both male and 
female, I fhall firft defcribe them, and after- 
wards proceed to the peculiar points which 
mark the difference of fex. 
The parts common to both are, firft, the 
points of refpiration fituated outwardly; fe- 
condly, the eyes and the brain; thirdly, the 
pulmonary tubes and pneumatic bladders; and 
laftly, the heart. The things peculiar to each 
are the horn and genital parts in the male, 
and the ovary in the female. I fhall proceed 
to defcribe thefe in order and with brevity: 
as to the particular defcription of the other 
* ‘The antenne of Beetles are of two kinds; thofe which are pointed at the end, and thofe which have that part fhaped in 
the manner of a comb. 
There is alfo a difference of a very particular kind in their-infertion, the greater part have them fixed upon the fubftance of the 
head; but in fome they are carried upon a kind of trunkj: the Beetles which have them in this ftrange fituation, are thofe the 
antients called Gurguliones. 
Upon thefe forms and infertions of the antenna may be eftablifhed an exa& claffical diftribution of them, a thing yet wanted 
in natural hiftery. 
external 
