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44

From leaf to leaf conduct (lie virgin light, Star of the earth, and diamond of the night

The genus (antlzaris comprises a number

of small insects, adorned with gay colours, depending greatly on sex, season, &c. so that a description of one of them will suffice. The Gantliaris bipustulata is of a slender shape, and of a very dark, but elegant, gilded green, with the tips of the wing-shells red: on each side of the thorax, a little below the setting on of the wing-shells, lies a triple vessel, or bladder, which the insect can extend or draw in as it pleases. From inspecting this appendage with the microscope, an alternate inflation and contraction is perceptible, like the motion of the lungs in the larger animals, and probably is applicable to the same purpose. This insect frequents various plants, particularly the nettle. Most of the tribe are very voracious some of them have been seen to prey o their own species.

The most striking pecultarity in the genus .Mater, is a spine, situated in the under part of the thorax, so ordered, as to fit, when required, a small cavity in the upper part of the abdomen; forming a sort of spring, that enables the insect, if laid on is brick, to leap to a considerable height. How nice is the mocha

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