IIVSECT TRAPfSFORMATIOJVS, 



SECTION I.— EGGS OF INSECTS. 



Chapter I. 



All Insects come from Eggs as Plants do from Seeds. — Vulg-ar errors of 

 Insects being generated by Putrefaction and Blighting Winds disproved 

 by experiment. 



It was universally believed by the ancient philoso- 

 phers, that maggots, flies, and other insects were 

 generated from putrefying substances. This opinion 

 continues to be held by unintbrmed persons among 

 ourselves; — though it would be equally correct to 

 maintain, that a flight of vultures had been generated 

 by the dead carcass which they may be seen devour- 

 ing, or a flock of sheep from the grass- field in which 

 they graze. Another opinion, perhaps still more gene- 

 rally diffused, is that caterpillars, aphides, and other 

 garden insects which destroy the leaves of plants, are 

 generated, propagated, or, at least, spread about, by 

 certain winds or states of the air, mysteriously and 

 indefinitely termed blight. The latter belief is, pro- 

 bably, not so easy of immediate refutation as the for- 

 mer; — but, as we shall endeavour to show, it seems 

 to us to be equally erroneous. 



The small size of insects renders it somewhat easy 

 to pass off fanciful opinions regarding them, since it 

 is diflicult for common observers to detect mistakes, 



VOL. VI. 1 



