INSECTA. 813 



of birds, and is only surpassed by the almost unbounded reproductive powers 

 of fishes. Lewenhoeck found that a single fly could produce in three months 

 seven hundred and forty-six thousand four hundred and ninety-six flies, simi- 

 lar to itself; the silk-worm moth deposits about five hundred ova; the tiger- 

 mo*h s, : Y.*een hundred. And in insects living in societies like the wasp and 

 bee, whose manners have been more the subject of observation, the repro- 

 ductive powers are still greater. The female wasp deposits at least thirty 

 thousand, and the queen bee from forty to fifty thousand. But all these are 

 left far behind by a species of the white ant (Termes fatale), the female of 

 which deposits not less than sixty ova in a minute, three thousand six hun- 

 dred in an hour, or eight hundred and sixty-four thousand in a day ! 



The most remarkable feature in the history of insects, is the transformations 

 the same individuals undergo during the different stages of their existence. 

 These transformations, more wonderful than the fabled metamorphoses of the 

 pagan mythology, have been adduced in proof of the argument for the existence 

 of design in the conduct of the universe. But to the student of nature, even 

 this instance, however striking, is not wanted to establish proofs of design 

 the most admirable, and beneficence the most unbounded, in the structure 

 and preservation of the almost infinitely numerous tribes of organized be- 

 ings ; since every portion of nature exhibits facts of the same kind, impos- 

 sible to be explained without reference to Infinite Wisdom and Almighty 

 Power. 



The transformations or metamorphoses of insects embrace three states 

 in which the animals appear, and which form as many great periods of their 

 fife. In the first, they have no wings, and some even possess no organ of 

 movement ; in the second, the animal falls into a state of torpor or apparent 

 lethargy, for a longer or shorter period, during which its future organs are 

 completed; and the third displays the perfect insect in the full possession of 

 of all its members and animal faculties. 



In the first state, the animal, under the form of a small worm, is 

 termed the larva, or caterpillar. These larvae appear in two states; 1. 

 Those which, in general form, more or less resemble the perfect insect ; 2. 

 Those which are wholly unlike the perfect insect. The first cf these in- 

 cludes, with the exception of the Crustacea, nearly the whole of the Lin- 

 nsean orders, Aptera and Hemiptera ; the second comprises, with few ex- 

 ceptions, the whole of the Linnaean orders, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenop- 

 tera, Diptera, and the greater portion of the Neuroptera. Previous to their 

 change, the larvae exhibit appearances of the greatest anxiety and restlessness. 

 They cease to eat, wander about with instinctive care, seeking for holes in 

 the earth, chinks in trees, crevices in walls, and other places for their tempo- 

 rary repose. Many penetrate the ground to the depth of several inches; 

 the grubs of the gad-fly creep out of the backs of the cattle, and drop upon 

 the ground, or are carried by the animal, licking itself, into its mouth and 

 •Jirough its intestines; and the various aquatic larvse leave the water for an 



