220 
SPHINX. 
from the dormant condition of the papilionaceous 
insects during their state of chrysalis, and their 
resuscitation from it; but they have, in general, 
unfortunately chosen a species the least proper 
for the purpose; viz. the Silkworm, an animal 
which neither undergoes its changes under the 
surface of the earth, nor, when emerged from its 
tomb, is it an insect of any remarkable beauty; 
but the larva or caterpillar of the Sphinx, when 
satiate of the food allotted to it during that state, 
retires to a very considerable depth beneath the 
.surface of the ground, where it divests itself of all 
appearance of its former state, and continues 
buried during several months; then rises to the 
surface, and bursting from the confinement of its 
tomb, commences a being of powers so com- 
paratively exalted, and of beauty so superior as 
not to be beheld without the highest admiration. 
Even the animated illustration taken from the 
vegetable world, so justly admired, as best calcu- 
lated for general apprehension, must yield in the 
I'orce of its similitude to that drawn from the in- 
sect’s life, since Nature exhibits few phenomena 
that can equal so wonderful a transformation. 
I must here request the reader’s permission to 
repeat on this subject some lines long ago intro- 
duced into the pages of the Naturalist’s Mis- 
cellany. 
The helpless crawling caterpillar trace 
From tlie first period of his reptile race. 
Cloth’d in dishonour, on the leafy spray 
Unseen he wears his silent hours away. 
