434 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 



with a magnifying glass, he discovered that each resembled a round 

 cupola of a chalky consistence, and that they were shut by a cover- 

 lid which was conical in shape and ornamented with radiating 

 grooves like the marks on a parasol. When the &gg was broken a 

 red pulp came forth, but when it was allowed to hatch a small 

 spider partly lifted off the lid with its back and entered the world. 

 The newly born creature was red, and was a larva ; it had six legs 

 only, and crawled slowly, and did not increase in size. Duges 

 noticed that after a while the larva seeks some crack in the 

 ground near by, and becomes motionless. Then its skin comes 

 off and forms a transparent shelter for the nymph or pupa, just 

 as is the case in many insects. 



During the nymph condition the second metamorphosis takes 

 place, and, after a lapse of a iow days, an eight-legged spider bursts 

 forth. The little RapJiigiiathits is not much larger in the adult 

 than in the larval condition, but its long legs enable it to move 

 rapidly. It has an oval-shaped body with a projecting head, or 

 rather, mouth, which looks like the head. There is a small eye of 

 a dark red colour on either side of the front of the body. The 

 spider lives upon the elder trees and sucks their sap. 



It is evident that there is a complete metamorphosis in this 

 genus, and that the nymph or immobile pupa is quite as good an 

 evidence of it as a chrysalis would be. 



Some species of Tetraiiychus, which resemble somewhat the 

 spiders just noticed, do much mischief to lime trees, roses, 

 acacias, and even to oaks, by irritating the leaves and destroying 

 their powers of respiration. The spiders live on the under surface, 

 and spread a very delicate web over the leaf, so as to form a shelter 

 for a numerous colony. They are very small creatures, with oval- 

 shaped bodies covered with long hairs, and their eight legs are not 

 long ; they secrete a very fine web, which cannot be detected with 

 the naked eye, and when it is finished they may be observed 

 digging their suckers into the cellular tissue of the leaf and 

 pumping up the liquid sap. The females may be observed laying 

 large eggs, and a larva soon comes forth with six legs and a pel- 

 lucid body. As soon as the leaves begin to fall, the larvae hide 

 themselves under stones, and undergo their first metamorphosis 

 into immobile pupae, probably during the spring-time. Another 



