In swimming, the posterior legs play the principal part. The other legs striking the water upwards or downwards, produce an upward or downward motion. The animal changes its course at will by using the legs on one side only, in the same way as one turns a rowing boat with one oar without the aid of a rudder. Swimming differs essentially from walking, for the foot being surrounded by a resisting medium, the legs on both sides are moved at the same time.
The act of jumping is principally performed by the hind legs. Insects which jump have these legs very largely developed, as in [Fig. 9]. When about to jump they bring the tibia into contact with the thigh, which is often furnished with a groove to receive it, having on each side a row of spines. The leg then suddenly straightens like a spring, and the foot being placed firmly on the ground, sends the insect into the air, and at the same time propels forward. The jump is greater in proportion as the leg is longer.
To treat here in a general manner of the wings of insects would be useless. We shall refer to them at length in their proper place, when treating of the various types of winged insects.
In the perfect insect the abdomen does not carry either the wings or the legs. It is formed of nine segments, which are without appendages, with the exception of the posterior ones, which often carry small organs differing much in form and function. These are saws, probes, forceps, stings, augers, &c. We shall consider these different organs in their proper places.
With vertebrate animals, which have an interior skeleton suited to furnish points of resistance for their various movements, the skin is a more or less soft covering, uniformly diffused over the exterior of the body, and intended only to protect it against external injury. In insects the points of resistance are changed from the interior to the exterior. The skin is altered by Nature to fit it to this purpose. It is hard, and presents between the segments only membranous intervals, which allow the hard parts to move in all directions.
We are examining a perfect insect; we have glanced at its skeleton, and the different appendages which spring from it. The principal organs which are contained in the body remain to be examined.
We will first study the digestive apparatus. This apparatus consists of a lengthened tubular organ, swollen at certain points, forming more or less numerous convolutions, and provided with two distinct orifices. This alimentary canal is always situated in the median line of the body, traverses its whole length, and is at first surrounded by, and then passes above, the nervous ganglia. [1]
Fig. 10.—Digestive apparatus of Carabus auratus.