46 SITARIS. 



maggot, and cocoon or pupal stages, have subsequently 

 been acquired; but from this view many naturalists, 

 for instance Sir John Lubbock, who has likewise 

 recently discussed this subject, would, it is probable, 

 dissent. That certain unusual stages in the metamor- 

 phoses of insects have arisen from adaptations to 

 peculiar habits of life can hardly be doubted ; thus, 

 the first larval form of a certain beetle, the Sitaris, as 

 described by M. Fabre, is a minute, active insect, 

 furnished with six legs, two long antennae, and four 



eyes. 



* * * * 



It then undergoes a complete change; its eyes dis- 

 appear, its legs and antennae become rudimentary, and 

 it feeds on honey; so that it now more closely 

 resembles the ordinary larvse of insects ; ultimately it 

 undergoes further transformations, and finally emerges 

 as a perfect beetle. Now, if an insect, undergoing 

 transformations like those of the Sitaris, had been the 

 progenitor of the whole great class of insects, the 

 general course of development, and especially that of 

 the first larval stage, would probably have been widely 

 different from what is actually the case ; and it should 

 be especially noted that the first larval stage would not 

 have represented the adult condition of any insect." 



If I am asked whether, in my opinion, the original 

 insect stock resembled the perfect insect or the larva, I 

 must at once say that it seems to me impossible to 

 derive the Insecta from any of the more specialised 

 forms — say from a bee, a butterfly, a grasshopper, or a 

 beetle. Such an opinion cannot consistently be held, 

 either by the evolutionist or by the believer in separate 

 creations. With reference to the development of the 

 Insecta from an original larval form I must, however, 

 observe that, as pointed out in my memoir to which I 

 have already referred,^ there is great vagueness in the 

 word "larva;" and the maggot of a fly is in a very 

 difierent condition from the larva of a Cicindela, or a 



' ' Liun. Trans./ 1863. 



