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. The division of the body into segments is
also a necessary result of there being several supreme organs in place
of one; and this again is a part of the essential constitution of
insects, and is a character which approximates them to plants. For
as plants, though cut into pieces, can still live, so also can
insects. There is, however, this difference between the two cases,
that the portions of the divided insect live only for a limited
time, whereas the portions of the plant live on and attain the perfect
form of the whole, so that from one single plant you may obtain two or
more.
Some insects are also provided with another means of protection
against their enemies, namely a sting. In some this is in front,
connected with the tongue, in others behind at the posterior end.
For just as the organ of smell in elephants answers several uses,
serving alike as a weapon and for purposes of nutrition, so does
also the sting, when placed in connexion with the tongue, as in some
insects, answer more than one end. For it is the instrument through
which they derive their sensations of food, as well as that with which
they suck it up and bring it to the mouth. Such of these insects as
have no anterior sting are provided with teeth, which serve in some of
them for biting the food, and in others for its prehension and
conveyance to the mouth. Such are their uses, for instance, in ants
and all the various kinds of bees
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