442 



TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 



a protecting mantle, and is liable to all sorts of accidents, from 

 the shocks received during the swimming of the beetle to and 

 fro. The Hydmchna, with its membranes thus retracted, is really 

 a nymph, and not a quiescent one, but an active creature, which 

 nourishes itself and grows. The gullet of the nymph still traverses 



THE METAMORrHOSES OF Ilydrachna globitla. 

 I. The perfect spider (natural size and magnified). 2. The larva (magnified). 

 3. A nymph. 4. A nymph magnified, show-ing the eight-legged spider within. 5. The 

 last form of nymph (magnified). 



the sucker, which is plunged into the body of the host, and a 

 membranous prolongation of it has penetrated the flesh of the 

 victim, and retains the sucker so tightly in contact with the 

 muscles and juicy tissues that it remains in that position after 

 the nymph has left its skin altogether. 



