of fo many bleffings; let us teftify on all occafions the gratitude our hearts are filled with, for his hay-ing brought us into existence, and for the gifts of reafon and the fenfes which make that existence delightful.

'CHA P. II.

OF THE MEMBERS OF INSECTS,

For the fake of order I fhall divide this Chapter into two Sections. In the firft, I fhall difcourfe of the external parts of infects; in the fecond I fhall treat of their internal ftructure. As the former are more eafily distinguished than the other I fhall be more diffuse upon that fubject, and begin with it.

SECTION I.

Of the external members of Infects.

As all infects have a fkin I fhall begin what I propofe to fay of the parts of infects, by a description of

this member.

The fkin is the most external integument which nature has given them: it covers their whole body, connects the different parts and retains them in the places to which they are affigned. It is not of the fame quality in every infect. Those whofe manner of life, does not expofe them to compreffion, or to vio

lent

lent friction have the fkin very delicate and tender. Some have several skis one above another nearly like the different coats of an onion. The fkin of man and that of the other animals is filled with an infinity of fmall pores; it refembles a fieve or very fine net, the pores anfwering to the meshes. By thefe pores tranfude a quantity of fuperfluous humours which are thrown off by fenfible or infenfible perfpiration. The fkin of infects has likewife pores for the fame ufe, and fo fmall, that they are with difficulty feen. As fome animals change their hair and even their skin every year, experience fhews us that infects do the fame. Some throw it off but once ayear, others four times.

Infects which creep into holes, or fiffures, where they are expofed to pretty violent rubbing, have their fkin harder than others: and even fome have it fortified with fcales. It likewife ferves to defend infects from the injuries of the weather; it is of the fame ufe to them that scales are to ferpents and fifhes, fhells to crabs or fhell fish, feathers to birds, and hair to the most of quadrupeds. As infects in general are but fmall, the heat of the Sun would foon dry up the internal humidity of their bodies, and exhauft their animal spirits, were not they enveloped in a harđ skin, which prevents that inconvenience. It is the inftrument of motion to thofe that want feet; by extending and contracting it alternately, they transport themfelves from place to place.

Laftly, the skin of infects may be confidered as a coat of mail with which God has armed them as a protection from external danger. "Thou haft cloath

ed me with skin," fays Job, CHAP. X. ii. to expreis the means which God had employed to unite, connect, and preferve the different parts he was compofed of. The Deity has been equally attentive to

T

infects

infects, and it is for the fame purpose that he has likewife cloathed them with a skin.

It is fo difficult to diftinguish the head of fome infects that one would be almoft tempted to believe they had none. Some have it exceeding finall in proportion to their body, others very large. It is not in all of the fame fhape; it is round, flat, oval, broad, acuminated or fquare in different infects. In fome it is fmooth, in others rough, and fome have it fet with hairs to fuit their manner of life. There is alfo great diversity in the fituation of the head. In fome it is quite diftinct, but in others it is not easy to difcover it. Some conceal it under their back, like Tortoifes under their fhell, fo that it cannot be seen. Though most have it straight forward, fome have it bent down, and fome have a triangular mark on their forehead,

Winged infects which have feet are furnished with antennæ on their head, above the eyes, though fome have them feated on the roftrum, as all the Curculios. In the antennæ there are many articulations that infects may bend them with facility, and the number of the articulations varies with the neceffities of the various infects. It is rare to find caterpillars with antennæ, but there is a brown caterpillar which lives in fociety that is diftinguished by antennæ with three articulations. Those of the mufk beetle have four, thofe of the pediculi of the Peacock, five; thofe of the aphides of the cabbage, fix; thofe of the Ichneumons that are bred in the body of the caterpillar with 72 folds, feven; thofe of fome beetles eight. There are infects which have still a greater number of articulations in their antennæ. Such are all the species of Cerambyx which have ten; the earwig eleven; the Tipula phalenoides has fourteen, and the ichneumon that breeds in the body of the

green

green caterpillars which curl up the leaves has fixteen; the antennæ of a Phalæna which feeds on the alder has forty articulations, thofe of the Phalæna Euonymella fifty; and thofe of another bred on the willow fixty. Laftly in thofe of fome grafshoppers, there are from eighty to an hundred articulations.

These articulations are not of equal fize, and fome are longer than others; some are formed of little spherical bodies like a ftring of beads, more or lefs diftant; these beads are bare in fome, but garnished with hairs in others; in general they are fo fmall that they cannot be feen diftinctly but with a glass. In some infects they are hemifpherical, in others heartfhaped, and laftly fome are toothed like a faw.

The extremity of the antennæ in fome infects is thickeft, forming a knob, the whole fomewhat of the figure of a drum-ftick. That knob is fometimes cleft and divided into feveral branches. The fhaft of the antennæ is fometimes fmooth, and fometimes fringed. Thefe laft are of two forts, the one having fringes only on the outfide, the other on both fides, like the feather of a bird. This is their appearance when feen with the naked eye, but if a magnifier is employed, we find that each particular filament of the fringe is itself a feather, having a quill and a plume like thofe of a bird.

The antennæ are feated on fmall tubercles by which the infect can bend them in all directions. They are not always carried in the fame way, fome infects bearing them ftraight forwards, others bent, others turned afide, according to their manner of life.

Antennæ have been given to infects with different views and for different purpofes. It appears to have T. 2

been

been the principal intention of the Creator that they fhould ferve it tend of hands, as they feel objects with them in order to jud.e whether they are useful or pernicious. When duft has failen upon the eves of fome infects it is with their antenna that they clean them. It is the more neceffary that they fhould be provided with the means of removing this duft as they have no eye brows, and are therefore more expofed to the inconvenience. In this cafe the antennæ are of the same ufe with our fingers. They likewife ferve infects as the organ of fmell, and by them they difcera odours both near and at a distance. The males employ them in careffing the females. They are a fort of measuring rod to others, with which they found the depth of the holes they mean to retire to. Lastly, as we have observed above, the antennæ are one of the marks by which the males of many fpecies may be diftinguished from the

females.

The ftructure of the eye in man and other animals demonftrates, in the moft inconteftible manner, the power and wifdom of him who made it; but, the evidence of thefe perfections, drawn from the ftructure of the eye in infects, is not lefs ftrong. It is true that fome infects are deftitute of the organ of fight, but by far the greater number are poffeft of it. The form of their eyes is very various; fome have, the luftre, and almost the roundness of pearls, fome are hemifpherical, others fpheroidal. They are not all of the fame colour. We fee many butterflies with eyes as white as fnow, thofe of fpiders are quite black, thofe of fome aphides are of the colour of amber, of jafper or vermilion; the brilliancy in the eyes of fome of the mufce is like that of gold, for which reafon they go by the name of the golden-eyed flies; thofe of the green grafshoppers have the colour of an emerald; ally, the eyes of fome have

as