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for extracting their food. The principal genera are: -1. Blatta, cock roach.-2. Gryllus, locust, grasshopper.-3. Fulgora, lantern-fly.-4. Cimex, bug, &c.

The blatta, or cock-roach, is an animal which avoids the light, and is particularly fond of meal, bread, putrid bodies, and the roots of plants. It frequents bakers shops and cellars, and flies the approach of danger with great swiftness. The head of the mantis, or camel-cricket, appears, from its continual nodding motion, to be slightly attached to the thorax. This insect is regarded by the Africans as a sacred animal; because it frequently assumes a praying or supplicating posture, by resting on its hind feet, and elevating and folding the first pair.The gryllus comprehends a number of species, some of which are called grasshoppers, others locusts, and others crickets. The caterpillars of the grylli have a great resemblance to the perfect insects, and, in general, live under ground. Many of these insects feed upon the leaves of plants. Others, which live in houses, prefer bread, and every kind of farinaceous substance.-The foreheads of several of the genus, called fulgora, or lantern-fly', especially of

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those that inhabit China, and other hot climates, emit a very lively shining light during the night, which often alarms those who are unacquainted with the cause of the appearance. To this insect Thomson alludes in his view of the torrid zone :

From Menam's orient stream, that nightly shines
With insect lamps.

And Mrs. Barbauld:

Some shoot like living stars, athwart the night,
And scatter from their wings a vivil light,

To guide the Indian to his tawny loves,

As thro' the woods with cautious steps he moves.

The caterpillars of some of the genus called cicada, or flea-locust, discharge a kind of froth or saliva from the pores of the body, under which they conceal themselves from the rapacity of birds and other enemies. The papa, or water scorpion, frequents stagnant waters. It lives chiefly on aquatic insects, and is exceedingly voracious.-Many species of the cimex, or bug, feed upon the juices of plants, and others upon the blood of animals. Some of them are found in waters, and others frequent houses, among which, though it wants wings, is the bed bug, a pestiferous insect, which is too well known, and too generally diffused. The bugs differ from other insects by their softness; and most of them emit a very fetid smell.--The insect called aphis, or treelouse, is very common. There are a great many species, denominated from the trees and plants which they infest: they are viviparous in summer, and oviparous in autumn. Numbers of those called vine-fretters are devoured by the ants, on account, it is supposed, of a sweet liquor with which their bodies are perpetually moistened. The caterpillars of the chermes have six feet, and are generally covered with a hairy or woolly substance. The winged insects leap or spring with great agility, and infest a number of different trees and plants: the females,

by means of a tube at the termination of their bodies, insert their eggs under the surface of the 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, are sometimes almost en tirely covered.

ORDER III.—Lepidoptera:

Who can follow Nature's pencil here?
Their wings with azure, green, and purple glossed,
Studded with coloured eyes, with gems embossed,
Inlaid with pearl, and marked with various stains
Of lively crimson thro' their dusky veins.

BARBAULD.

This order includes the scaly-winged insects; they have four wings. The genera are:-1. Papilio, butterfly.-2. Sphinx, hawk-moth; Phalana.

The species comprehended under the above genera are exceedingly numerous. All butterflies and moths belong to this order. Their wings are covered with a farinaceous powder, or rather with a kind of scales, disposed in regular rows, nearly in the same manner as tiles are laid upon the roofs of houses. The elegance, the beauty, the variety of colours exibited in their wings are produced by the disposition and different tinctures of these minute scales. The insects of this order, on account of their beauty and easy preservation, have always been the favourites of collectors, and particularly of those of the female sex. When the scales are rubbed off, the wings appear to be nothing more than a naked and often a transparent membrane. The feelers of the papilio, or butterfly, are thickest at their extremity, and, often terminate in a kind of knob, or head. Their wings, when sitting, or at rest, are erect, and their extremities join each other above the body.

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Nature, in these insects, seems to have been fond to sport in the artificial mixture and display of her most radiant treasures. In some, what elaborate harmony of colouring, what brilliancy of tints, what soft and gradual transitions from one to another! In the wings of others we may observe the lustre and variety of all the colours of gold, and silver, and azure, and mother of pearl; the eyes that sparkle on the peacock's tail; the edges bordered with shining silks and furbelows, blended with the magnificence of the richest fringe. In China, the finest and most extraordinary of these insects are sent to court, and applied to the decorations of the emperor's palace. Behold! ye pilgrims of this earth, behold!

See all but man with unearned pleasure gay:
See her bright robes the butterfly unfold,
Broke from her wintry tomb in prime of May!
What youthful bride can equal her array?
Who can with her for easy pleasure vie?
From mead to mead with gentle wing to stray,
From flower to flower on balmy gales to fly,
Is all she has to do beneath the radiant sky.

THOMSON.

The feelers of the sphinx, or hawk-moth, are thicker in the middle than at the extremities, and their form in some measure resembles that of a prism. The wings are, in general, deflected, their outer margins declining toward the sides. They fly about early in the morning, and after sunset; and, by means of their proboscis, like the butterflies, they suck the juices of plants. The feelers of the phalana are setaceous, and taper from the base to the point. When at rest, their wings are commonly deflected, and they fly during the night. Previously to their transformation, the caterpillars of many of this genus spin webs

For further poetical illustrations, see Time's Telescope for 1814, pp. 219, 220; for 1816, p. 148, note; pp. 237, 238; for 1817, pp. 117, 148, and pp. xxi, xxii, Introd.; for 1818, p. 109; and the present vo lume, p. 146.

for covering and protecting the animals while in the chrysalis state. From a species of this tribe mankind have derived one of the greatest articles of lux ury and of commerce which now exists in the world. That seemingly contemptible and disgusting reptile the silkworm, in its passage from the caterpillar to the chrysalis state, produces those splendid materials which adorn the thrones of princes, and add dignity and lustre to female beauty'.

ORDER IV.-Neuroptera.

Thick in yon stream of light, a thousand ways,
Upward, and downward, thwarting, and convolved,
The quivering nations sport; till tempest winged,
Fierce Winter sweeps them from the face of day.
Ev'n so luxurious men unheeding pass
An idle summer life in fortune's shine,
A season's glitter! Thus they flutter on
From toy to toy, from vanity to vice;
Till blown away by death, oblivion comes
Behind, and strikes them from the book of life.

The neuroptera, or nerve-winged insects, have four wings, which are membranaceous, naked, and so interspersed with delicate veins, that they have the appearance of beautiful net-work. Their tail has no sting; but that of the male is frequently furnished with a kind of forceps or pincers. The genera are:-1. Libellula, dragon-fly.-2. Ephemera, may-fly, or trout-fly, &c.

The libellula, or dragon-fly, is an insect of very splendid and variegated colours. It is a large and well known fly, and frequents rivers, lakes, pools, and stagnating waters, in which the females deposit their eggs. The egg, when deposited by the

For a poetical illustration of the moth, see T. T. for 1819, p. 238, note; and on the locality of the dew-moth, the present vol. p. 188.

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