56 STATES OF INSECTS. (Lgg.) 
mencement of the appearance of the organs of the but- 
terfly for that of their existence, and yet the early ap- 
pearance of the sexual organs ought to have led him to 
a conclusion the reverse of that which he has adopted. 
Dr. Virey has observed with great truth—that “ Every 
being has a peculiar and unique nature, which would be 
impossible if the body was composed of parts made at 
several intervals, and without a uniform power that acts 
by concert*:” and every Physiologist acquainted with 
the history of insects that undergo a complete metamor- 
phosis will allow, that their developments and acquisition 
of new parts and organs take place according to a law 
which regulates the number, kind, and times of them, 
differing in different species, and which has had an in- 
variable operation, since the first creation, upon every 
sound individual that has been produced into the world. 
In consequence of this law, one species changes its 
skin only four times, and another five or siz ;—in some 
cases the first skins shall be covered or bristled with 
hairs or spines, and the last be naked and without arms; 
—that which forms the case of the pupze shall differ in 
form and substance from the preceding skins, varying 
in both respests in different species; and finally the but- 
terfly shall invariably follow, when no other change but 
the last mortal one shall take place. Can this law, so 
constantly observed, be the result of a blind power ? Or 
are we to suppose that the Deity himself is always at 
work to create the necessary organs in their time and 
place? Is it not much more consonant to reason and the 
general analogy of nature, to suppose that these parts 
and organs exist in embryo in the newly-hatched cater- 
* N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. x. 193. 
