are oval; fome have the figure of an egg compref fed, and fome refemble the quill of a feather. Some have the body flat and fquare. The body of the infect called Hippocampus has four long and flat fides; that called the Corculum aquaticum is of the figure of a heart. Some are crooked like a hook, and are furnished with a long tail, or fmall bag at the posterior extremity; of this laft the Sphex fabulofa is an example The diverfity of colour in this part is not lefs remarkable, but we fhall enter more minutely into this fubject hereafter.

Thofe infects which have no feet have in different places of their body, fmall points which ferve inftead of them; and with these they attach themselves to folid bodies, and keep faft to them. In horfe dung there is to be found a maggot about an inch in length, whofe body has nearly the figure of a cherry-flone. This animal has fix rings by means of which it can elongate and contract itfelf like the pipe uled in fome places for decoying quails; the furface of each of thefe rings is garnished with fmall acute points; in fuch a manner that when the maggot chufes to raife them up, they penetrate the bowels of the horfe, and keep the infect fo firm, that it is not carried along with the faces.

The bodies of thofe infects which live in water are naturally covered with a fort of oil which prevents the water from adhering to them, and retard. ing their motion. Others have along their body fmooth or crenulated margins, fometimes knobs that not only ferve to preferve them from being hurt by attrition upon entring or going out of their holes, but also are an ornament. These are not quite fo large as a grin of millet, yet there is obfervable an affemblage of the most beautiful colours, and they refemble thofe little glafs balls filled with different co

loured

loured waters. Laftly fome like the camel have protuberance on their back.

a

But we fhall find as much diverfity in the parts that remain as in those we have already mentioned. The extremity of the abdomen is not alike in all. Some have it fmooth, in others it is fet with hairs, longer or fhorter according to the ufes they are deftined for. In this place are fituated the papillæ from which they draw the threads they use in their different webs. Some like the caterpillar of the Phalana bucephala have this part covered with a fhort of fhield. Others have at the fame place a stiff membrane which affifts them as a rudder to turn when flying to this fide or that; and is to infects what the tail is to birds. Some have long flender briftles, one, two, three, or four; and others a fort of horns, ftraight, bent or crooked in various infects. When these horns are touched, fome like the caterpillar of the Sphinx Euphorbia can draw them in as fnails do theirs. Others have more flender horns, either fimple, or, as in the Blatta orientalis, articulated. These horns are of various ufe, for to fome infects as the Gryllus campestris, they give intelligence when any thing approaches them from behind, to others they are the organs of attachment to folid bodies, to others of progreffive motion. The extremity of the abdomen is likewife the fituation of the fting in thofe infects which poffefs it; fome have one, others two, which ferve as weapons of offence or defence. Some, as the Earwig, instead of a fting have a fort of pincers or forceps at the tail, with which they defend themselves, and feize their prey. Laftly fome like the caterpillar of the Phalana Vinula, have two tentacula, like a two-pronged fork.

I now come to the parts of generation in infects, which cannot be paffed over in filence. Thefe are generally

U 2

placed at the extremity of the abdomen in the males, though there are fome that have them placed for? wards under the belly. Thefe parts in proportion to the body of the infect are larger in fome than in others. Thofe of the females are fituated, as in the males, generally towards the extremity of the abdomen, fometimes under it. They are covered with a fine down, that the male organs, which are exceedingly delicate, may not be hurt by the contact.

Some infects have likewife, at the extremity of the abdomen, a fting. In fome it lies within the body from which they can dart it forth when they have occafion to use it, in others it is altogether external. If fhort, it is placed under the belly, where it lies in a groove like that which receives the edge of the blade of a pocket knife. If long it flicks out behind, and is enclofed in a fort of cafe formed of two very flender laminæ like a tube clett longitudinally. This tube terminates in a very fharp point, which opens to allow the fting to pafs when it is ufed. This fting is bearded with very sharp points like the beards of a hook. These not only prevent the fting from being withdrawn, but make the wound more painful. It is formed of two fharp fpears, which, being once inferted into the skin, penetrate further by means of their fharp points. At the bafe of the fting near the belly is found a small bag full of a strong and penetrating fluid. This the infect extracts when it has occafion, and injects it into the wound made by the tube of its fting, when tumour and pain fucceed in confequence of the fermentation of this fluid. The tube of the fting is fmooth in fome, in others when viewed through a magnifier, it appears hairy. At the bafe of the fting in the abdomen of the infect are found the mufcles by which it acts.

All infects do not make the fame ufe of the fting.

In the female for inftance, it is the conduit through which the eggs are conveyed and depofited. It is often more than half an inch in length, hollow, and cleft in two: It terminates in a pointed knob, with which the infect makes a hole in the earth, or in a leaf large enough to hold her eggs. Thefe fhe de

pofites, through the hollow of her fting, that the rugged earth or other matters may not harm them. As it is open by means of the cleft at top, as well as at bottom, and as the eggs do not defcend by the preffure of the air, Nature has formed in it many half rings oppofite to one another, which facilitate its defcent. Infects contract thefe fucceffively, begining with that nearest the abdomen, and making the eggs defcend from one ring to another, by a fort of peristaltic motion. The cleft of this canal is almost invifible while the infects are alive, but it opens a little more when they are dead. The fting of the female is incapable of wounding; that of the males alone has this power.

The females of all infects are not provided with fuch a conduit: thofe which depofite their eggs on the furfaces of bodies, difcharge them immediately by the genital organs. None but thofe which depofite their eggs in the flefh, in other infects, in leaves, or in the earth, have occafion for fuch a tube, that they may introduce them as deep as is neceffary.

Although the fting of the males is extremely fine, it is, nevertheless, ftrong enough to pierce hard fubftances, and I have been ftung by a bee through a goat-skin glove. They ufe it as a pike or lance to annoy their enemies, or to defend themselves.

This tube or fting does not always ferve as a channel for the eggs. There are some aquatic infects, fuch as the Nepa Cinerea, that have this part com

mon

mon to both fexes, and which they ufe as a fpiracle to inhale the fresh air. They are seen often pushing the extremity of it to the surface of the water, and when they descend, there rife little bubbles of air, which efcape from them.

We have had occafion to remark above, that infects which have feet, have not always the fame number of them, but that they vary according to the different fpecies. Thofe limbs are generally fituated under the abdomen: we find, however, a particular order of infects, aquatic as well as terreftrial, that before their transformation, have their feet on the back. But no oner have they divested themselves of their skin, and their feet, and are in a capacity to fly, than these appear under the abdomen.

All infects have not the legs of the fame length. Some have them very short, with but one articulation. Such are all caterpillars, whofe fix fore feet, are not, ftrictly speaking, any thing but hooked points, and the eight hind feet have but a fingle articulation, which gives them the appearance of being mutilated. Some infects are likewife found that have them longet, with three articulations, as fome spiders, mentioned by Pliny; four, as the Scolopendra morfitans ; five, as in the Tipula motitatrix; fix, as in the Aranea Diadema: and fometimes, even eight. The feet of the fame infect are not always of equal length. The hind legs of moft are longer than the reft.Bees have them fo long that they can carry them to their head, and put into their mouths the wax these legs are loaded with. This rule, however, is not fa general but that there are exceptions to it, the fore legs in fome being the longest.

Thefe legs are generally compofed of three parts, the first is a kind of thigh, (femur.) It arifes im

mediately