Pedes, the legs, are divided into, 1. Femur, or thigh, that part which is joined to the trunk. 2. Tibia, or shank. 3. Tarsus, or ibot. 4. Ungues, hooks or nails. 5. Manus, (chela,) hands or claws, simple, with a moveable thumb, as in the crab. The hind legs are termed, 1.
Cursorii, formed for running. 2. Salta tore, formed for leaping 3. Nat iturii, formed for swimming.
(III.) Cauda, the tail, which terminates the abdomen, is 1. Solitaria, 1. e. single.
2. Bicornis, i. e. two-horned, or double.
3. Simplex, simple, i. e. unarmed. 4,. Armata, i. e. furnished: 1. with forceps or pincers : 2. with furca, a fork : 3. with one or more seta:, or bristles 4 with an aculeus, or sting, either smooth or barb ed. A sting is a weapon frequently hol low, with which some insects are furnish ed, and through which they discharge a poison into the wound they inflict.
The sexes of insects are commonly two, male and female. Neuters are to be met with among those insects which live in swarms, such as ants, bees, &c.
The majority of insects are observed to he annual, finishing the whole term of their lives in the space of a year or less, and many do not live half that time ; na), there are some which do not sur vive many hours ; but this latter period is to be understood only of the animals when in thuir complete or ultimate form, for tne larvae of such as are of this short duration have in reality lived a very long time under water, of which they are na tives ; and it is observed, that water in.
sects, in general, are of longer duration than land insects. Some few insects, how ever, in their complete state, are supposed to live a considerable time, as bees for instance ; and it is well known that some of the butterfly tribe, though the major part perisli befbre winter, will yet survive that season in a state of tor pidity, and again appear and fly abroad in the succeeding spring ; spiders are also thought to live a considerable time, and some species of the genus cancer are said to live several years, especially the common lobster, &c. : it should be observed, however, that these animals, in the opinion of some modern naturalists, constitute a different tribe of beings from insects properly so called. Linnaeus has divided insects into seven orders 1. Co. LEOPTEILA ; II. HEMIETE1tA; Ill LXpIDOP