g 8 JAs Hijlory of ANIMALS.
opake, serving as a kind of vagina or cafe for the others; these will make the first class,under the name of Coleoptera .
Others have the external pair of wings harder and firmer than the others, butmore approaching to the nature of the internal, and not perfectly rigid and opake, as inthe former. These vfrill make the second class, under the name of Scleroptera.
Others have all the wings alike, and have them of a membranaceous structure, butfurnished with strong ribs or nerves: these will constitute the third class, under thename of Neuroptera .
Others have all the four wings covered with a fine dust, which dust, when exa-mined by the microscope, is found to be composed of little regular scales, which havebeen improperly called feathers: these will constitute the fourth class, under the nameof Lepidoptera .
And, finally, others have the wings merely membranaceous, composed of a finethin substance, without any remarkable nerves: these will make the fifth and lastclass^ under the name of the Hyrnenoptera.
TETRAPTERA.
InseSls which have, four wings .
Class the Firjl.
InfeBs which have four wings , the external ones perfeBly unlike the others ,being hard , firm, rigid, and opake , and having the appearance oftwo valves forming a cafe or vagina for the others ; and having themouth formed of two transverse jaws.
SCARABÆUS.
T H E antennæ of the Scarabæus are of a clavated figure, and fissile longitudi-nally : the eggs of all these hatch into hexapode worms, from which the beetleis afterwards produced.
Scarabæus cornubus duobus- mobilibus , cequalibus , apice bi-furcis introrfum ramo denticulifque infruBis.
Ihe Scarabœus , with ramose , forked , moveable , equal horns.
ALag-
beetle.
This is a very large and very beautiful creature : it’s colour on the back is a duskybrown, nearly approaching to black : it’s length is more than an inch, and it’s breadthabout half an inch, or little more : the horns are equal to the body in length, andsometimes in the full grown ones much more so j they are usually black, sometimes ofa fine red like coral; they are forked at the ends, and have each a large branch, be-stde some denticulations on the inside ; they are both of the same length, and servethe creature, as the claws of crabs and lobsters do those animals, to pinch and holdthings fast with : the eyes are hard, prominent, and of a pale colour: the fore legsare longer and stronger than the other pairs.
It is frequent in Kent and Sussex, and in some other parts of England. There ishardly a stranger sight than this creature flying; it does not place itself horizontally,,as might be imagined in this motion, but flies vertically, though it’s motion be hori-zontal. All the writers on Insects have described it. Mouffet calls it Cervus volansjCharleton, Cervus volans platyceros ; Wagner, Scarabelaphus ; Olearius, Taurus vo-lans. Pliny was better acquainted with the structure and use of these horns, thansome of the people who wrote in what are called more improved ages.
Scarabœus