260 Metamorphoses of Insects. 



him no time to define his position, and after a short and bloody- 

 contest with the dogs, he is despatched, and the sable hunters 

 remunerated, — for his skin they will sell to the hatters in the near- 

 est town, and Lis flesh they will hang up in a tree to freeze and 

 furnish them with many a savoury meal. 



The greatest number of Raccoons, however, are killed by log- 

 traps set with a figure of 4 trigger, and baited with a bird or 

 squirrel, an ear of corn, or a fish : either the appetite or curiosity 

 of these animals will entice them into a trap or entangle them in 

 a snare. 



Another mode of destroying this species is by fire-hunting, 

 which requires good shooting, as the animal only shows one eye 

 from behind the branch of a tree, which reflecting the light of 

 the fire-hunter's torch, shines like a ball of pliosphorus, and is 

 generally knocked out at twenty-five or thirty yards by a good 

 marksman. 



The Raccoon, like the bear, hibernates for several months dur- 

 ing winter in the lat'.tude of New York, and only occasionally and 

 in a warm day leaves its retreat, which is found in the hollow of 

 some large tree. We once, however, tracked in deep snow the 

 footsteps of a pair of this species in the northern parts of New 

 York, and obtained them by having the tree in which they lay 

 concealed cut down. They had made a circle in company of 

 about a mile, and th"a returned to their winter domicile. 



ARTICLE XLII. — On the Metamorplioses of Insects. 



(From Kirby and Spence's Introduction to Entomology.) 



METAMORPHOSES OF mSECTS. 



Were a Naturalist to announce to the world the discovery of an 



animal which for the first five years of its life existed in the form 



of a serpent, which then penetrating into the earth, and weaving 



a shroud of pure silk of the finest texture, contracted itself within 



this covering into a body without external mouth or limbs, and 



resembling, more than anything else, an Egyptian mummy, and 



which, lastly, after remaining in this state without food and 



without motion for three years longer, should at the end of that 



period burst its silken cerements, struggle through its earthy 



covering, and start into day a winged bird, — ^what think you 



would be the sensation excited by this strange piece of intelli- 



