LIBER XI · CAPUT 4
THE BODIES OF INSECTS
Latine · Mayhoff 1906
Insecta, ut intellegi possit, non videntur habere nervos nec ossa nec spinas nec cartilaginem nec pinguia nec carnes, ne crustam quidem fragilem ut quaedam marina, nec quae iure dicatur cutis, sed mediae cuiusdam inter omnia haec naturae corpus, arenti simile, nervo mollius, in reliquis partibus tutius vere quam durius. et hoc solum iis est, nec praeterea aliud. nihil intus nisi admodum paucis intestinum inplicatum. itaque divolsis praecipua vivacitas et partium singularum palpitatio, quia quaecumque est ratio vitalis illa non certis inest membris, sed toto in corpore, minime tamen capite, solumque non movetur nisi cum pectore avolsum. in nullo genere plures sunt pedes, et quibus ex his plurimi, diutius vivunt divulsa, ut in scolopendris videmus. habent autem oculos praeterque e sensibus et tactum atque gustatum, aliqua et odoratum, pauca et auditum.
English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57
Insects, so far as I find myself able to ascertain, seem to have neither sinews, bones, spines, cartilages, fat, nor flesh; nor yet so much as a frail shell, like some of the marine animals, nor even anything that can with any propriety be termed skin; but they have a body which is of a kind of intermediate nature between all these, of an arid substance, softer than muscle, and in other respects of a nature that may, in strictness, be rather pronounced yielding, than hard. Such, then, is all that they are, and nothing more: in the inside of their bodies there is nothing, except in some few, which have an intestine arranged in folds. Hence it is, that even when cut asunder, they are remarkable for their tenacity of life, and the palpitations which are to be seen in each of their parts. For every portion of them is possessed of its own vital principle, which is centred in no limb in particular, but in every part of the body; least of all, however, in the head, which alone is subject to no movements unless torn off together with the corselet. No kind of animal has more feet than the insects have, and those among them which have the most, live the longest when cut asunder, as we see in the case of the scolopendra. They have eyes, and the senses as well of touch and taste; some of them have also the sense of smelling, and some few that of hearing.