LETTER m. 



METAMORPHOSES OF INSECTS. 



Were a naturalist to announce to the world the 

 discovery of an animal which for the first five years of 

 its life existed in the form of a serpent ; which then 

 penetrating into the earth, and weaving- a shroud of 

 pure silk of the finest texture, contracted itself within 

 this covering into a body without external mouth or 

 limbs, and resembling more than any thing else an 

 Egyptian mummy ; and which, lastly, after remaining 

 in this state without food and without motion for three 

 years longer, should at the end of that period burst its 

 silken cerements, struggle through its earthy cover- 

 ing, and start into day a winged bird, — what think 

 you would be the sensation excited by this strange 

 piece of intelligence ? After the first doubts of its 

 truth were dispelled, what astonishment would suc- 

 ceed ! Amongst the learned, what surmises ! — what 

 investigations ! Amongst the vulgar, a\ hat eager cu- 

 riosity and amazement ! All would be interested in 

 the history of such an unheard-of phenomenon ; even 

 the most torpid would flock to the sight of such a pro- 

 digy- 



But you ask, " To what do all these improbable 

 suppositions tend ? " Simply to rouse your attention 

 to the metamorphoses of the insect world, almost as 



