LADY-BIRD TRANSFORMATIONS. 



its extraordinary vitality in flying away after an immersion of 

 four and twenty hours in ardent spirits, which first attracted 

 the attention of Kirby, and led him, for the amusement and 

 benefit of thousands, to adopt the study of insects. Yet of 

 the millions who are well enough acquainted, by sight, with 

 this common Beetle, so cailv distinguished from the darker 



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brethren of its order, how feAv know a single word about its 

 history, or suspect that, besides being a pretty, it is a useful, 

 little animal. 



Nearly everybody has a knowledge, more or less accurate, of 

 the transformations undergone by Moths and Butterflies, (the 

 Lejndoptera of naturalists,) but not many perhaps are aware that 

 most other insects cro through similar changes. Those of the 



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Lady-bird are very curious, and the difference of form between 

 its long flat figure in the first or larva stage of being, and its 

 half spherical shape as a winged Beetle, is scarcely less striking 

 than that betwixt the Butterfly and the Caterpillar from which 

 it has expanded. 



But let us begin with the beginning of the Lady-bird's life, 

 even from its commencement in the egg shell. The eggs are of 

 a bright yellow, small, flat, and oval ; and, laid close together 

 in patches of a score and upwards, are to be found throughout 

 the spring and summer, glued to a variety of leaves. It must 

 not be imagined, however, that the mother insect by whom 

 they are thus deposited is ever so regardless of the welfare of 

 her family as to commit it, while in embryo, to the barren 



