106 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



were also said to sprout legs, to move from place to 

 place, and perform all the functions of a living body. 

 These, and a thousand other equally ridiculous stories, 

 were, at one period or another, more or less generally 

 admitted as indisputable truths, and to contradict 

 them would only be to expose one's self to the im- 

 putation of ignorance, or criminal faithlessness. And 

 although at present the possibility of making a living 

 serpent out of wood, and the story of animated leaves 

 and sticks, would be despised as absurd, yet many 

 are to be found, both in Europe and America, who 

 firmly believe in the animation of a horse-hair. But 

 the most obvious errors have often a shadow of truth 

 whereon to rest, or palliate, if not excuse them by the 

 plea of ignorance or mistake. The historian of the 

 walking-leaf may have been deceived by the Mantis 

 Siccifolium of Linnaeus (the Soothsayer), the wings of 

 which bear some resemblance to a leaf. The Gordius 

 (a worm) resembles a horse-hair, and no doubt gave 

 rise to the story of the metamorphosis above men- 

 tioned, and the account of the walking-sticks may 

 have very honestly originated from the singular ap- 

 pearance and form of the Insect which bears this 

 name." 



I have above mentioned the name of Madame Me- 

 rian as originally circulating the story of the Lantern- 

 fly, and as her name is somewhat celebrated in the 



