the attentive observer with very different emotions, and • force him to exclaim "" The beauty and symmetry of some of those minute objects so viewed, are surprising indeed. What a metamorphosis do they seem to undergo under the magic-working glass? Creatures that before seemed small and despicable, now appear the pride of nature, wherein she has bestowed more nice and delicate art, and displayed more profusely the rich embroidery and elegant beauties and garniture of colours than in any of the larger species of animalst." Even the dust that adheres to the Butterfly's wing, and to which it owes the beautiful tints and variegated hues which adorn it, is said to be an innumerable collection of extremely small feathers, as perfect in the structure and symmetry of -the arrangement as they are beautiful in the colouring. But this is not all, the very circumstances adduced as marks of imperfection in the insect tribes; viz. their being enabled to live for some time after being deprived of those organs necessary to life in the higher ranks, and their amazing numbers, ought rather to be considered as arguments to the contrary. The former is no doubt essentially necessary to the preservation of a species exposed to so many casualties as those in particular who live on blood, and cannot, therefore, partake of a meal, without giving their enemies notice of their presence; and the latter to prevent the extinction of a short-lived race, which come into existence at a time when there are so many open mouths ready to devour them. These, it has been well observed, are noble discoveries, on which a new philosophy has been raised, that enlarges the capacity of the human understanding, and affords more sublime and just ideas than mankind had before of the infinite power, wisdom,. and goodness of the great Creator! MARTIN'S Philosophical Grammar. The Horsefly will live, and run, after being deprived of its head; but to what jeopardy, is that animal continually exposed in the act of feeding. What a prodigious number of animals live upon insects. Without these two characteristic distinctions of the insect tribes, although they may be deemed imperfections by the more imperfect powers of shortsighted mortals, it is probable that long ere now some of those exquisite pieces of Nature's workmanship must have disappeared from the creation, and for want of those connecting links the whole beautiful fabric of the universe must have fallen to decay; for trifling as some of those minute or imperceptible objects may appear, the language of philosophy is "Each crawling insect holds a rank Instead therefore of having the presumption to stigmatize in the most remote degree, this particular order of the creatures of the Almighty as affording evidences of imperfection, let us rather, from similar considerations, adopt the words of the more judicious SWAMMERDAM: After an attentive examination" says he "of the nature and anatomy of the smallest as well as the largest animals, I can. not help allowing the least an equal, or perhaps a superior degree of dignity. If while we dissect with care the larger animals, we are filled with wonder at the elegant disposition of their parts, to what a height is our astonish ment raised, when we discover all these parts arranged in the least in the same regular manner. " And sum up the dispute in the words of another naturalist: "Of this dis pute it is only necessary to observe, that the wisdom of the Creator is so conspicuous in all his works, and such surprising art is discovered in the mechanism of the body of every creature, that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to say where it is most, and where it is least to be observed*." It is impossible in the compass of a few pages to do any thing like justice to a subject, which can never be suffi ciently investigated. I would, however, consistent with my general plan, notice a few facts and striking peculiarities in this mysterious and numerous order of beings by BAR, in his continuation of BUFFON. whick which it is most distinguished from the others, and in which it will be sufficiently evident that insects are also the children of the same common parent, whose wisdom and goodness are so conspicuous in his other works, In the head of an insect no organization of the brain is said to be discovered, but the want of this is abundantly made up by that medullary thread which communicates the vital principal to the other parts of their bodies, and endows them with that tenacity of life, which, as has been already observed, is so useful to the species. Neither are they apparently furnished with the usual organs of smelling and hearing, but whether the olfactory nerves communicate with the feelers, and the auricular organs are situated in the antennæ, as Mr BARBUTT supposes, or not, there can be no doubt from the readiness of Wasps, Flys, &c. to betake themselves to their wings and fly to dainties at a distance, and the alertness of Bees in saliying out to the relief of a brother in distress, when he alarms them by his noise outside the hive, that insects are not deficient in the senses of seeing and hearing, wherever the organs may be situated. The manner of respiration is different in insects from other animals; they breathe through pores placed in the sides of their bodies, and this also fits them for that remarkable peculiarity of living in separate parts. In the composition of insects no bones are made use of, but this defect is supplied in some by a membraneous or muscular skin, and in others by a crustaceous or horny covering. Their eyes are fixed and they have no eyebrows, but to prevent them from injury the latter want is supplied by the external tunic of their eyes being hard and transparent, and to remedy the former some insects have four, some six, others eight, while the number of lenses in some of those who have only two is amazing indeed.* The eyes of insects are admirably adapted for seeing minute objects nigli at hand, but from the smallness and convexity of their lensis, it is apparent that they can neither see Flies, wasps, &c. have the outward coat of their eye made of curious lattice-work. PAGETT is said to have discovered no fewer than 17,325 lenses in the cornea of a butter-fly !!! see far* nor take in the larger objects, and to remedy any inconvenience that might arise from this, may have been the principal reason why Nature has furnished them with those projecting horns or feelers with which they seem to grope as they advance. Insects are also distinguished by the number of their legs and wings; of the latter most insects have four wings, while no other species of animals have more than two; and although the greater part have six legs, others, as Mites and Spiders, have eight, and some ten, fourteen, sixteen, and even a great many more. The palpi are those little instruments fixed to the mouth of some insects, which seem to be intended to serve the purpose of arms, for they employ them to bring food to their mouths and keep it steady when eating. Some insects are furnished with stings for defence, or to assist them in procuring their food, others with a tube for injecting their eggs into the most convenient situations for hatching; and the greater part of winged insects have a proboscis or trunk, which although not so large, is as wonderfully contrived as that of the Elephant, and serves the purposes of a mouth, a nose, and a windpipe||! The degree of strength and agility which many of the insect tribe possess is amazing. A flea will draw a chain 100 times heavier than itself; and the velocity of a mite, in proportion to its size, is said to outstrip that of a racehorse-With regard to sex there is one thing very remarkable in this order, viz. that the Bees, the Wasps, and Ants furnish an example of a species that belong to neither sex; and so are called neuters ;—these, however, are not without their uses; and the affection they evince for the Why has not man a microscopic eye? + Some insects are said to have even a hundred legs. helpless The females of some winged insects insert their eggs under the surface of leaves, and the worms when hatched, give rise to those tu→ bercles or galls with which the leaves of the ash, the fir, and other trees sometimes abound; the eggs of the Cynips, inserted into the leaves of the oak, produce the caterpillars, which give rise to the galls used in the composition of ink. The proboscis of insects is a machine of a very complicated nat ure; and that of a butterfly, when not in quest of food, is rolled up in form of a watch spring. helpless little creatures left to their care, might serve as a lesson to those who are intrusted with the tender charge of infants not their own. The last thing I shall mention in this general survey of the insect tribes, is the wonderful transformation many of them undergo in the different stages of an egg, a grub or worm, a chrysalis, till they arrive at their most perfect or fly state*; in each of which changes not only their form and structure, but their very nature and appetite undergo a complete revolution.Take for example yonder Butterfly, which in gaudy attire, and with a sprightly air, ròves and flutters in quest of its balmy juices from flower to flower how wonderful the change from that dead and inanimate state in which its beauties lately lay concealed, or from the grovelling reptile which on the cabbage-leaf partook voraciously of its coarser fare, nor evinced any relish for other dainties! If any thing were wanting to prove the wise disposition of the parts and appetites of animals to their various situations and habits, here we have it in the instance of the Butterfly, whose structure and taste both undergo an alteration when its sphere of action and propensities become different. In regard to some peculiarities of a few of the different species of insects, I would briefly observe, that in the mouth of the Gnat we have an admirable specimen of the instrument necessary for such a blood-thirsty animal; the nails or crotchets of the Horse-fly, as well as its tenacity of life, evince that it is apt to be disturbed in its banquets; whoever attentively considers the form of a Louse, need not be told that it is a blood-suckert. The legs of the * Observe the insect race, ordain'd to keep Start from their trance, and burst their silken shell. Locust +As some description of this animal may serve to deter naughty boys from habits of uncleanness, I shall here briefly notice, that al |