( 288 ) 



Chapter XII. 



Form and Structure of Pupae. 



The figures delineated in the preceding chapter show 

 how different in form many pupae are, both from 

 their larvee and from the insects to be afterwards 

 evolved from them, — as different, indeed, as the form 

 of a bud from the seedling tree, or from the leaf, 

 branch, or blossom, which is destined to shoot from it. 

 Pupae, as we formerly remarked, have as striking an 

 analogy to the buds of plants, as eggs have to seeds ; 

 — and this is the more necessary to be insisted on, 

 that their nature has been grossly misrepresented 

 even by authors of eminence, and, in other matters, of 

 unquestionable accuracy. The term Metamorphons, 

 so long applied to the various stages of insect life, 

 has been one of the chief means of propagating the 

 erroneous views in question, inasmuch as it implies 

 a supernatural change like those described in the 

 poetical fables of Ovid. The term Transformation^ , 

 though not perhaps free from a similar implication, 

 is much less strong and less likely to mislead. 



That our objection does not originate in hypercri 

 tical nicety, but is of no little importance with regard I 

 to the accurate knowledge of the history of insects, , 

 could be proved by reference to many well-known 

 works of natural history ; but we shall limit our ' 

 illustrations to one or two of those strange fancies 1 

 which have obscured and perplexed this branch ofl' 

 our subject. 



We shall begin with the illustrious Harvey, — the 

 discoverer of the circulation of the blood, — who, in 



