58 STATES OF INSECTS. (Lgg.) 
gans, &c. as of teeth, horns, pubes, feathers, &c.* Let 
us now consider a little in detail the analogies that ap- 
pear to exist between the second and the first and third 
kinds. I shall first consider the latter as the least obvious. 
That able, judicious, and learned physiologist, Dr. Virey, 
has pointed out no inconsiderable resemblance between 
the metamorphosis of the insect, and the changes, which 
he denominates a metamorphosis by metastasis, to which 
most vertebrate animals are subject. In them, he ob- 
serves, a state analogous to the Jarva state begins at the 
exclusion of the foetus from the womb; it is deprived of 
teeth, and its viscera are only accommodated to milk: 
in the cornute species the horns are in embryo: the di- 
gestive system now preponderates, and the great enjoy- 
ment is eating. A second state, in a degree analogous 
to that of pupa, commences at the period of dentition— 
the teeth now produce another modification in the in- 
testinal canal, which becomes capable of receiving and 
digesting solid food: during this period the vital forces 
are all tending to produce the perfect state of the animal ; 
and in this state, in man especially, the individual is 
educated and fitted to discharge the duties of active life. 
Again, analogous to the zmago state is the age of puberty, 
in which the complete development of the sexual powers 
takes place in both sexes, and the animal has arrived at 
its acme, and can continue its kind’: now the digestive 
powers diminish in their activity, and love reigns para- 
mount. When this state is fully attained, no further 
or higher change is to be expected, and the progress is 
soon towards decay and the termination of the animal’s 
* See on this subject N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xx. article Metamor- 
phosis. > N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat, xx. 349—. 
