! ent incifures, more or lefs deep, and often much more fo than thofe of the ferpent or lobster. They have not exactly the fame number of mem bers which the other animals are furnifhed with: The legs are wanting to fome, the wings to thers; perhaps they may have fomething lefs alfo, or fomething more in their vifcera; but from thence it does not follow that their bodies are imperfect as fome philofophers have imagined. An animal is confidered to be perfect when it is furnifhed with all the parts that are neceffary for its fub. fifting in the ftate appointed for it. The privation of those which are abfolutely neceffary to another fpecies is no proof of imperfection. A houfe built according to the rules of architecture, would never be considered as an imperfect edifice, because it had not fo many apartments as a palace. The perfection of a compound does not confift in the abundance of its parts, but folely in their proportion and aptitude for the functions they are defined to perform. Each infect is therefore as perfect in its fpecies as the other animals in theirs; and it would be as abfurd to deny them this quality as it would be extravagant to maintain that man is not perfect without wings, the horfe without fins, or fifhes without feet. Thefe pretended defects, and their diminutive fize have made infects be regarded with contempt but the enlightned naturalift confiders them in a very different light. Every Infect however small it may be, is furnished with all the parts that are necessary for it. As no one of them can be taken from it without maiming it, fo no one could be added without furcharging it with an ufelefs load; in this its perfection confifts. I will not fay with St Augufline that the foul of a fly is as perfect as the F funk fun when it is moft brilliant; but I would willingly afk, with that father, what are the fprings that put in motion limbs fo delicate, which tranfport thofe fmall bodies from one place to another to fupply their neceffities and which urge and direct their feet or extend and agitate their wings when they run or fly? I agree with him that there are many things marvellous in these functions; but I find ftill more in the minuteness of the creatures which perform them. If therefore I were to appretiate the foul of an infect, that confideration would appear to me at leaft as proper for exalting its excellence as the other. Indeed, how wonderful is it to behold organized machines moving and acting, fifty of which put together would not make the volume of a grain of fand! How delightful would it not be could we perceive those parts the delicacy of which is fo great that they are invifible to our fenfes! When we confider all this, what can we think or what can we say, but that God is admirable in all his works, and that the structure of these little animals which creep on the earth, furnishes us with as abundant matter for adoring the power, the wifdom and goodness of the Creator, as the stars which traverse the wide extent of Heaven! CHA P. III. OF THE DIVISION OF INSECTS. N In confidering infects with regard to their external form only, they may be conveniently comprehended in two general claffes, The firft will include those which have not feet, and the second those which have. Infects of this laft clafs may be fubdivided into two different orders. The one have wings, the other want them; and as all thofe with wings do not resemble one another, hence arifes a new fubdivifion. Some have the wings quite naked, while nature in order to preserve thofe of others hath covered them with a cafe. There is befides ftill another diftinction to be made among those with uncovered wings; for in fome they are perfectly smooth' and transparent, in others they are mealy. In these last the cover is fometimes only partial. In order to avoid confufion it will be proper never to give the general name of worm but to thofe infects which are deftitute of feet, excluding every other to which the word is generally applied. However this may be, we muft enumerate among the infects without feet, the three species of leeches which are known; that of rivers, of stagnant waters and of the fea, To them must be added the Gordius, which the Germans called the thread-worm, becaufe it is hardly thicker than a thread, The water Tipula, the larva of the fmall water Tipula, which when united in great numbers, form on the furface of the water a kind of green carpet; and a water worm, whofe mouth resembles the opening of a trumpet, In water is alfo found the infect called the Hippocampus, Sea-worms, and Sea-ftars, and two worms one of which has a large, and the other a fmall probofcis, Earth worms are not in lefs quantity. Befides the common earth worms, there are fome to be found in dunghills, in grafs, in corn, in pulfe, in roots, in wood, and even in the medulla of putrid wood. Many fpecies are found in the leaves of plants. Some fix themselves on the upper, fome on the under furface, in order to conceal themfelves; fome lodge in the fubftance of the leaves, others in their galls. Some penetrate the fruit of trees, others enter into bee-hives. Some attach themfelves to animals, like those which are found on beetles, and which adhere to fishes, to birds, to dogs, and fwine, and other beafts. Even the inteftines of animals are not fecure from them fome are found in the entrails of fishes, of horses, and of men. Thofe found in man are not all of the fame fpecies, fome are round and long, others round and fhort. Some are long and depreffed, fome fhort and depreffed; and fome are bred in wounds and putrid fores. Infects with feet, and without wings are very numerous, and have not all the fame number of feet. I know a fpecies of water flea, which has only two. The fpecies which have fix are most numerous; among thefe is comprehended the Afilus or Oeftrum Marinum, the Corculus, water bugs, land fleas, a fort of mites, which breed in the parenchyma of leaves, certain worms found in ftones, the afelli arvenfes, the aphides of leaves, the Cochineal worm worm, and ants. Under this laft fpecies ought to be comprehended the white and red ants found in the East Indies, the formica-leo, and the ant of the Philippine Islands, called Sinum. In continuing the enumeration of infects, with fix feet, we fhall find worms which devour green and dry wood, bugs, a mong which I rank the Hocitexca of the Eaft Indies, and the Ytzuaque of Mechoacan, the lice of bees, of the Dor-beetle, of dogs, of fheep and other animals: Ticks, mites, fleas, and dermeftes. The fame variety is obfervable in the infects with eight feet. The greater part of fpiders must be ranked in this order; fuch are many forts of foreign spiders, aquatic and terreftrial; fuch alfo are the Tarantula, the great fpider of Brazil, called the Nhamdu guafu; the spider or flea, which they call Tunga, and that to which they give the name of wolf; all of which are poffeffed of a very dangerous, and often mortal poifon, Many species of lice, have alfo eight legs, as well as the land and water fcorpions, and fome fpecies of fmall caterpillars, which adhere to leaves. I rank in this clafs of infects with ten feet, certain fpecies of foreign fpiders, and the caterpillars, called Geometræ, the aquatic onifci have twelve feet, the aquatic fleas, and common caterpillars, the water loufe too, and others have fourteen. The Onifcus Ceti, has fixteen. We obferve eighteen feet in thofe white caterpillars, fpotted with black, which feed on the leaves of the Alder. Those worms of the colour of ochre, which are found in rotten wood, and which afterwards change into that kind of beetle, with a probofcis, (Curculio) have twenty-four feet. Laftly, there are fome, which have ftill a greater number of feet, as many fpecies of finall centepieds and Scolopendra, both aquatic and terreftrial. I know in particular two fpecies, one of them having one |