summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/10834-h/10834-h.htm
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to '10834-h/10834-h.htm')
-rw-r--r--10834-h/10834-h.htm549
1 files changed, 549 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/10834-h/10834-h.htm b/10834-h/10834-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8434801
--- /dev/null
+++ b/10834-h/10834-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,549 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
+<html>
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The History of Insects, by Unknown</title>
+ <style type="text/css">
+ /*<![CDATA[*/
+ <!--
+ body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+ p {text-align: justify;}
+ blockquote {text-align: justify;}
+ h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;}
+ pre {font-size: 0.7em;}
+
+ hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;}
+ html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;}
+ hr.full {width: 100%;}
+ html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;}
+
+ .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%;
+ text-align: left;}
+ .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;}
+ .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+ .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 2em;}
+ .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 4em;}
+ .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;}
+ .poem .author {text-align: right;}
+
+ .figure {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;
+ text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em;}
+ .figure img {border: none;}
+ a:link {color:blue;
+ text-decoration:none}
+ link {color:blue;
+ text-decoration:none}
+ a:visited {color:blue;
+ text-decoration:none}
+ a:hover {color:red}
+ -->
+ /*]]>*/
+ </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10834 ***</div>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The History of Insects, by Unknown</h1>
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr class="full" />
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a href="./images/0002.png">
+ <img src="./images/0002.png" width="300" alt="Fonts used in this book." /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+
+
+ <h1>THE HISTORY OF INSECTS.</h1>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a href="./images/0003.png">
+ <img src="./images/0003b.png" width="300" height="207"
+ alt="A drawing of various insects" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <h4>And God made every thing that creepeth upon the earth. Gen. 1. 25.</h4>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>NEW-YORK:<br />
+ PRINTED AND SOLD BY SAMUEL WOOD,<br />
+ At the Juvenile Book-store,<br />
+ No. 357, Pearl-street.</h3>
+
+ <h3>1813.</h3>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Observe the insect race, ordained to keep</p>
+ <p>The silent sabbath of a half year's sleep!</p>
+ <p>Entom'd beneath the filmy web they lie</p>
+ <p>And wait the influence of a kinder sky;</p>
+ <p>When vernal sunbeams pierce the dark retreat,</p>
+ <p>The heaving tomb distends with vital heat;</p>
+ <p>The full formed brood, impatient of their cell,</p>
+ <p>Start from their trance, and burst their silken shell.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="author">
+ BARBAULD.
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <ol>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_1">THE HISTORY OF INSECTS.</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_2">ELEPHANT-BEETLE.</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_3">GRASSHOPPER.</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_4">CRICKET.</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_5">LOCUST.</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_6">FLEA.</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_7">LOUSE.</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_8">ITCH ... MITE.</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_9">SCORPION.</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_10">ANTS.</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_11">HONEY-BEE.</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_12">DRAGON FLY.</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_13">BUTTERFLY.</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_14">SPIDER.</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_15">SILK WORM</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#RULE4_16">SAMUEL WOOD</a></li>
+ </ol>
+ <hr class="full" />
+ <a name="RULE4_1" id="RULE4_1"><!-- RULE4 1 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>THE HISTORY OF INSECTS.</h2>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>Insects are so called from a separation in the middle of their bodies,
+ seemingly cut into two parts, and joined together by a small ligature, as we
+ see in wasps and common flies.</p>
+
+ <p>However small and contemptible this class of beings may appear, at first
+ thought, yet, when we come to reflect, and carefully investigate, we shall
+ be struck with wonder and astonishment, and shall discover, that the
+ smallest gnat that buzzes in the meadow, is as much a subject of admiration
+ as the largest elephant that ranges the forest, or the hugest whale which
+ ploughs the deep; and when we consider the least creature that we can
+ imagine, myriads of which are too small to be discovered without the help of
+ glasses, and that each of their bodies is made up of different organs or
+ parts, by which they receive or retain nourishment, &amp;c. with the power
+ of action, how natural the exclamation, O "Lord, how manifold are thy works!
+ in wisdom hast thou made them all." Under these considerations, that they
+ are the work of the same great, good, and Almighty hand that formed us, and
+ that they are all capable of feeling pleasure and pain, surely every little
+ child, as well as older person, ought carefully to avoid every kind of
+ cruelty to any kind of creature, great or small.</p>
+
+ <p>The supreme court of Judicature at Athens punished a boy for putting out
+ the eyes of a poor bird; and parents and masters should never overlook an
+ instance of cruelty to any thing that has life, however minute, and
+ seemingly contemptible the object may be.</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <p>"I would not enter on my list of friends</p>
+ <p>(Though grac'd with polish'd manners, and fine sense,</p>
+ <p>Yet wanting sensibility) the man</p>
+ <p>Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm."</p>
+
+ <div class="author">
+ COWPER.
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <a name="RULE4_2" id="RULE4_2"><!-- RULE4 2 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>ELEPHANT-BEETLE.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-2" id="image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0008.png"><img src="./images/0008b.png" width="300" height="136"
+ alt="Picture of an Elephant Beetle" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>The elephant-beetle is the largest of this kind hitherto known, and is
+ found in South America, particularly in Guiana, about the rivers Surinam and
+ Oroonoko. It is of a black colour, and the whole body is covered with a
+ shell, full as thick and as strong as that of a small crab. There is one
+ preserved in the museum that measures more than six inches.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <a name="RULE4_3" id="RULE4_3"><!-- RULE4 3 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>GRASSHOPPER.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-3" id="image-3"><!-- Image 3 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0009.png"><img src="./images/0009b.png" width="300" height="136"
+ alt="Picture of a Grasshopper" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Grasshoppers are too common to need description, as they abound almost
+ wherever there is green grass. One summer only is their period of life; they
+ are hatched in the spring, and die in the fall; previous to which, they
+ deposite their eggs in the earth, which the genial warmth of the next season
+ brings to life. They are food for many of the feathered race.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <a name="RULE4_4" id="RULE4_4"><!-- RULE4 4 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>CRICKET.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-4" id="image-4"><!-- Image 4 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0010.png"><img src="./images/0010b.png" width="300" height="133"
+ alt="Picture of a Cricket" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>There are two classes of crickets: viz. the field cricket, and the house
+ cricket; the latter inhabits warm places, the holes of the hearth, &amp;c.
+ from whence we hear its notes, which are agreeable: it is said, that they
+ are purchased by some, and kept in a kind of cage, for the sake of their
+ music. Field crickets inhabit the meadows, and subsist on roots, &amp;c. as
+ does another species, called the mole cricket.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <a name="RULE4_5" id="RULE4_5"><!-- RULE4 5 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>LOCUST.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-5" id="image-5"><!-- Image 5 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0011.png"><img src="./images/0011b.png" width="300" height="208"
+ alt="Picture of a Cricket" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>There are different kinds of the locust; those we are acquainted with, in
+ this country, are represented in the above cut. In some seasons, they are
+ scarcely heard at all; in others, they are more numerous. About the middle
+ or latter part of summer, we hear them among the leaves of the trees: their
+ notes, which are continued about the space of one minute, are loud at the
+ beginning, and grow lower and lower, till they cease; when they immediately
+ fly to another tree, begin again, and end in the same way, and so on.</p>
+
+ <p>In the eastern countries, a kind or kinds of locust, at different
+ periods, have been very numerous, and have done abundance of damage. In the
+ year 1650, a cloud of locusts entered Russia, in three different places; and
+ from thence spread over Poland and Lithuania; the air was darkened, and the
+ earth covered, in some places, to the depth of four feet; the trees bent
+ with heir weight, and the damage sustained exceeded computation. Locusts
+ were among the plagues of Egypt: sec Exodus, x. 15.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <a name="RULE4_6" id="RULE4_6"><!-- RULE4 6 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>FLEA.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-6" id="image-6"><!-- Image 6 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0013.png"><img src="./images/0013b.png" width="300" height="217"
+ alt="Picture of a Flea" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>This very troublesome little animal multiplies very fast among old rags,
+ dirt, straw, and litter, where hogs, cats, or dogs sleep; and in the hair
+ and bristles of those creatures: therefore, as a means of avoiding such
+ unwelcome neighbours, in the springs the cleanly farmer scrapes up the
+ rubbish about his woodpile, and around his house and barn, and removes it
+ into his field, where it also repays him by manuring his lands. They abound
+ in warm countries, particularly in the southern parts of France and
+ Italy.</p>
+
+ <p>When examined by a microscope, the flea is a pleasant object. The body is
+ curiously adorned with a suit of polished armour, neatly jointed, and beset
+ with a great number of sharp pins almost like the quills of a porcupine: it
+ has a small head, large eyes, two horns, or feelers, which proceed from the
+ head, and four long legs from the breast; they are very hairy and long, and
+ have several joints, which fold as it were one within another.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <a name="RULE4_7" id="RULE4_7"><!-- RULE4 7 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>LOUSE.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-7" id="image-7"><!-- Image 7 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0015.png"><img src="./images/0015b.png" width="300" height="217"
+ alt="Picture of a Louse" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>These loathsome animals, however unwelcome, attend in troops, and add to
+ the afflictions of the unfortunate and lazy; but they are routed by the hand
+ of industry and cleanliness.</p>
+
+ <p>In examining the louse with a microscope, its external deformity strikes
+ us with disgust. It has six feet, two eyes, and a sort of sting, proboscis,
+ or sucker, with which it pierces the skin, and sucks the blood. The skin of
+ the louse is hard and transparent, with here and there several bristly
+ hairs: at the end of each leg are two claws, by which it is enabled to lay
+ hold of the hairs, on which it climbs. There is scarcely any animal known to
+ multiply so fast as this unwelcome intruder: from an experiment of
+ Lieuenhoek, a louse in eight weeks, may see five thousand of its
+ descendants.</p>
+
+ <p>Among the ancients, what is called the lousy disease was not uncommon:
+ Antiochus, Herod, and others are said to have died of this disorder.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <a name="RULE4_8" id="RULE4_8"><!-- RULE4 8 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>ITCH ... MITE ... CHEGO ... DEATHWATCH.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-8" id="image-8"><!-- Image 8 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0017.png"><img src="./images/0017b.png" width="300" height="218"
+ alt=
+ "Picture of four related insects: Itch, Mite, Chego, and Deathwatch" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>There are many species of mites, beside the itch animal and mite above:
+ to the naked eye, they appear like moving particles of dust: but the
+ microscope discovers them to be perfect animals, having as regular a figure,
+ and performing all the functions of life as perfectly as creatures that
+ exceed them many times in bulk: their eggs are so small that a regular
+ computation shews that 90 millions of them are not so large as a common
+ Pigeon's egg.</p>
+
+ <p>The Chego is a very small animal, about one fourth the size of a common
+ flea: it is very troublesome, in warm climates, to the poor blacks, such as
+ go barefoot, and the slovenly: it penetrates the skin, under which it lays a
+ bunch of eggs, which swell to the bigness of a small pea.</p>
+
+ <p>The Deathwatch, of which there are two kinds, is an insect famous for a
+ ticking noise, like a watch, which superstitious people take for a presage
+ of death, in the family where it is heard.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <a name="RULE4_9" id="RULE4_9"><!-- RULE4 9 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>SCORPION.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-9" id="image-9"><!-- Image 9 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0019.png"><img src="./images/0019b.png" width="300" height="121"
+ alt="Picture of a Scorpion" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>This is one of the largest of the insect tribe. It is met with in
+ different countries, and of various sizes, from two or three inches to
+ nearly a foot in length: it somewhat resembles a lobster, and casts its
+ skin, as the lobster does its shell.</p>
+
+ <p>Scorpions are common in hot countries: they are very bold and watchful:
+ when any thing approaches, they erect their tails, and stand ready to
+ inflict the direful sting. In some parts of Italy and France, they are among
+ the greatest pests that plague mankind: they are very numerous, and are most
+ common in old houses, in dry or decayed walls, and among furniture, insomuch
+ that it is attended with, much danger to remove the same: their sting is
+ generally a very deadly poison, though not in all cases, owing to a
+ difference of malignity of different animals, or some other cause.</p>
+
+ <p>In the time of the children of Israel, scorpions were a plague in Egypt
+ and Canaan, as appears by the sacred writings. See Deuteronomy, viii. 15,
+ and other passages.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <a name="RULE4_10" id="RULE4_10"><!-- RULE4 10 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>ANTS.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-10" id="image-10"><!-- Image 10 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0021.png"><img src="./images/0021b.png" width="300" height="229"
+ alt="Picture of some Ants" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>'Who can observe the faithful ant,</p>
+ <p>And not provide for future want.'</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>These little animals have been for ages considered as patterns of
+ industry: they were specially noticed by the wise king Solomon. He says, "go
+ to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise." The ant lays
+ eggs in the manner of common flies; from these eggs are hatched small
+ maggots, or worms without legs; these, after a short time, change into large
+ white aureliae, or chrysales, which are usually called ant's eggs. When a
+ nest of these creatures is disturbed, however great their own danger, the
+ care they take of their offspring is remarkable: each takes in its foreceps,
+ a young one, often larger than itself and carries it off.</p>
+
+ <p>These little insects form to themselves, with much industry and
+ application, of earth, sticks, leaves, &amp;c. little hillocks, called
+ ant-hills, in the form of a cone: in these, they dwell, breed, and deposite
+ their stores: they are commonly built in woody places: the brushy plains on
+ Long-Island abound with them: they are from one to two feet in height.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <a name="RULE4_11" id="RULE4_11"><!-- RULE4 11 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>HONEY-BEE.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-11" id="image-11"><!-- Image 11 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0023.png"><img src="./images/0023b.png" width="300" height="219"
+ alt="Picture of a Honey Bee" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>This is an extraordinary, curious, and remarkably industrious little
+ insect, to which mankind are indebted for one of the most palatable and
+ wholesome sweets which nature affords; and which was one of the choice
+ articles with which the promised land was said to abound.</p>
+
+ <p>In every hive of bees, there are three kinds; the queen, the drones, and
+ the labourers: of these last, there are by far the greatest number: and as
+ cold weather approaches, they drive from the hives and destroy the drones,
+ that have not laboured in summer, and will not let them eat in winter. If
+ bees are examined through a glass hive, all appears at first like confusion:
+ but, on a more careful inspection, every animal is found regularly employed.
+ It is very delightful, when the maple and other trees are in bloom, or the
+ clover in the meadows, to be abroad and hear their busy hum.</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"Brisk as the busy bee among learning's flowers.</p>
+ <p>Employ thy youthful sunshine hours."</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <a name="RULE4_12" id="RULE4_12"><!-- RULE4 12 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>DRAGON FLY.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-12" id="image-12"><!-- Image 12 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0025.png"><img src="./images/0025b.png" width="300" height="221"
+ alt="Picture of a Dragon Fly" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Of these flies, which are called by many Spindles, there are various
+ species. They all have two very large eyes, covering the whole surface of
+ the head. They fly very swiftly, and prey upon the wing, clearing the air of
+ innumerable little flies. The great ones live about water, but the smaller
+ are common among hedges, and about gardens.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <a name="RULE4_13" id="RULE4_13"><!-- RULE4 13 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>BUTTERFLY.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-13" id="image-13"><!-- Image 13 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0026.png"><img src="./images/0026b.png" width="300" height="195"
+ alt="Picture of a Butterfly" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Of butterflies there are many kinds. How wonderful the various changes of
+ this class of insects! The butterflies lay their eggs: from these hatch out
+ worms or caterpillars, which change their skins several times, and, finally,
+ become aureliae, chrysales, or silkworms, out of which come the beautiful
+ butterflies.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <a name="RULE4_14" id="RULE4_14"><!-- RULE4 14 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>SPIDER.</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-14" id="image-14"><!-- Image 14 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0027.png"><img src="./images/0027b.png" width="300" height="215"
+ alt="Picture of a Spider" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>There are many kinds of spiders; some of which are said to grow to such a
+ size that they will catch small birds: some are poisonous, but the greater
+ part are harmless, although to most people their looks are disgusting. The
+ web of a spider, which is a net for catching its prey, is an astonishing
+ piece of curiosity.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <a name="RULE4_15" id="RULE4_15"><!-- RULE4 15 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>SILK WORM</h2>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-15" id="image-15"><!-- Image 15 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0028.png"><img src="./images/0028b.png" width="300" height="224"
+ alt="Picture of a Silk Worm" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>The silk worm is a very valuable insect: it is produced from an egg of a
+ yellowish colour, about the size of a small pin's head, that is laid by a
+ moth, or butterfly. The above cut represents a male and female, and her
+ eggs, of which she lays several hundreds: the moths live but a few days;
+ they never eat, and die directly after the eggs are laid.</p>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-16" id="image-16"><!-- Image 16 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0029.png"><img src="./images/0029b.png" width="300" height="206"
+ alt="Another picture of a Silk Worm" /></a>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>This cut shews the appearance of the worm, which at first is very small
+ and black. Its food is the leaves of the white mulberry: as it grows in
+ size, at four different periods, it apparently sickens, and changes its
+ skin, and finally, when full grown, it spins a ball of silk, called a cone,
+ or cocoon, the thread of which is about three hundred yards long: in the
+ centre of this ball the worm entombs itself, and experiences a change to a
+ state called an aurelia, or chrysallis, as seen below the ball: from this
+ aurelia, the moth that lays the eggs is hatched, and thus goes on the round
+ of this animal's changes, or transmigrations.</p>
+
+ <p>They are natives of China, and were brought into Italy, above twelve
+ hundred years ago; from thence into Spain; afterwards into France; much
+ later into Germany and the northern countries; and some have been reared in
+ the United States of America.</p>
+ <hr class="full" />
+ <a name="RULE4_16" id="RULE4_16"><!-- RULE4 16 --></a>
+
+
+
+ <h2>SAMUEL WOOD</h2>
+
+ <p>Hereby informs the good little Boys and Girls, both of city and country,
+ who love to read better than to play, that if they will please to call at
+ his JUVENILE BOOK-STORE, NO. 357, Pearl-street, New-York, it will be his
+ pleasure to furnish them with a great variety of pretty little books, with
+ neat nuts, calculated to afford to the young mind pleasing and useful
+ information. Besides many from Philadelphia, New Haven, and elsewhere, he
+ has nearly fifty kinds of his own printing, and proposes to enlarge the
+ number.</p>
+
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-17" id="image-17"><!-- Image 17 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0032.jpg"><img src="./images/0032b.jpg" width="300" height="243"
+ alt="Illustration" /></a>
+ </div>
+ <div class="figure">
+ <a name="image-18" id="image-18"><!-- Image 18 --></a> <a href=
+ "./images/0033.jpg"><img src="./images/0033b.jpg" width="300" height="242"
+ alt="Illustration" /></a>
+ </div>
+<br />
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10834 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>