74 HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



there dawned, albeit dimly, the great truth of an after life, 

 — well might they imagine their toilsome existence typified 

 in the cateipillar, their descent to the quiet grave in the 

 tomb-hke repose of the chrysalis, and the hereafter they 

 sighed for, in the spuit-hke resuiTection of the happy hut- 

 tei-fly : and seizing with avidity the idea, well might they 

 designate these aerial creatures by the name of '' souls." * 



Wonderfid indeed is tliis transformation from one form 

 to another, and a source of wonder and admiration it ever 

 must remain : yet science has offered us an explanation, 

 which, while it increases rather than diminishes our admi- 

 ration, strips the subject of that paradoxical seeming which 

 led some of our predecessors to suppose that one animal 

 was actually converted into another. It is now estabUshed 

 beyond a doubt, that the wings, legs, and other parts of the 

 butterfly, pre-exist in the chrysalis and even in the cater- 

 pillar : these facts have been ascertained by immersing the 

 chrysalis and caterpillar in boihng water, and dissecting 

 them when a greater degree of solidity has thus been given 

 to their Aarious parts. 



It may be observed of organized beings in general, that 

 when they first exist they possess little or no similarity to 

 the creatures they are destined to become : or in other 

 words, to the parents to which they owe their existence. 

 AVe may take as wide a range as we please in examining 

 the truth of this position ; amongst vegetables, compare the 

 acorn with the oak tree ; among animals, the egg with the 

 gorgeous peacock. When an organized being has reached 

 perfection, it precisely resembles its parent. The degrees 

 or steps by wliich a being moimts to this perfection and si- 

 milarity to its parent, constitute that which in an insect is 

 termed metamorphosis. 



* "^vx^i signifies a " soul. " 



