. Insect transformations . k. Theglass, however, showed that the body was covered bythe folds of four membranous wings, prettily mottled,which lay in a hollow groove on the back, while thelong slender legs were elegantly ringed with whiteIt was, in short, one of the numerous family of plant-bugs {JYeidcs elegans ? Curtis) which had strayedfrom the adjacent garden to the wall. Anotheroccurred in the same place somewhat similar, butconsiderably smaller, and stalked along with equallyawkward jerks, upon only its four hind-legs, while itkept its two fore-legs, which were greatly shorter,folded up
. Insect transformations . k. Theglass, however, showed that the body was covered bythe folds of four membranous wings, prettily mottled,which lay in a hollow groove on the back, while thelong slender legs were elegantly ringed with whiteIt was, in short, one of the numerous family of plant-bugs {JYeidcs elegans ? Curtis) which had strayedfrom the adjacent garden to the wall. Anotheroccurred in the same place somewhat similar, butconsiderably smaller, and stalked along with equallyawkward jerks, upon only its four hind-legs, while itkept its two fore-legs, which were greatly shorter,folded up under its belly, in readiness, probably, toseize on the first luckless mite or aphis that came inits way.* The latter appears to be the wanderingplant-bug {JMoiaria vagabundu, ). Many insects are capable of performing a featwhich no other animal could accomplish without theaid of the water-shoes lately invented — we allude towalking on the water, as distinct from swimming, * J. R. PECULIAR MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 381. ^jnnJa, magnified. 0, Ncides cU^ans, inagnifieil> which most, if not all animals, save man, can dowithout instruction. The whirlwig beetle {Gijrinusnaiaior) can scarcely be said either to walk, run, orswim, — for, as we have taken some j3ains to ascertain,it appears not to keep its oary leet plunged inthe water as it flits about, but strikes smartly out,and suddenly folds them flat under its belly; on thesame principle as a waterman on the Tiiames maybe seen to give two or three quick pulls with his oars,to put uojj, as he calls it, upon his wherry, and thenperking them up out of the water, lets it skim alongwhile he rests motionless. Thus does the littlewhirlwig glide along the water as if by magic, forwe cannot see its feet moving on account of theborder of the wing cases (c/j//?o) which overlapthem; no more than we can discern the feet of a swan,from their dark colour, resembling that of the water,even when she skims about at a small distance fro
Size: 1636px × 1526px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookidinsecttransforma00inr, booksubjectinsects
