48 



to investigate this case and ascertain by what law some of the 

 worms are changed to flies in a few days, while others, hatched out 

 at about the same time, and probably from the same laying of eggs, 

 and subject to precisely the same influences, are not changed to 

 flies until after the lapse of many months. Have these insects the 

 power of remaining in the larva state for as long as they desire to ? 

 and can they change themselves from this state to one of the suc- 

 ceeding changed whenever they desire to do so? We are forced to 

 acknowledge our ignorance of this subject, and to content ourself 

 with unraveling the less intricate problems of the Creator. 



The remaining cocoons were not disturbed until the 29th of Sep- 

 tember, when I opened each of them and found them to contain only 

 dead flies and larvae ; the latter had probably died for want of 

 moisture, as they were kept in a wooden box on a shelf under an 

 open woodshed. Had they lived they would probably have been 

 changed to chrysalids before winter set in, and would have hiber- 

 nated in this stage, producing the flies in the month of April or 

 May of the following year. No chrysalids were found in any of the 

 cocoons. 



