More curious than any are the Cicadae. For here the mouth and
the tongue are united so as to form a single part, through which, as
through a root, the insect sucks up the fluids on which it lives.
Insects are always small eaters, not so much because of their
diminutive size as because of their cold temperament. For it is heat
which requires sustenance; just as it is heat which speedily
concocts it. But cold requires no sustenance. In no insects is this so
conspicuous as in these Cicadae. For they find enough to live on in
the moisture which is deposited from the air. So also do the
Ephemera that are found about the Black sea. But while these latter
only live for a single day, the Cicadae subsist on such food for
several days, though still not many.
We have now done with the internal parts of animals, and must
therefore return to the consideration of the external parts which have
not yet been described. It will be better to change our order of
exposition and begin with the animals we have just been describing, so
that proceeding from these, which require less discussion, our account
may have more time to spend on the perfect kinds of animals, those
namely that have blood.
6
We will begin with Insects. These animals, though they present no
great multiplicity of parts, are not without diversities when compared
with each other.
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