LETTER XXXII. 
STATES OF INSECTS. 
IMAGO STATE. 
WHEN the insect has quitted the exuvie of the pupa, 
it has attained the last stage of its existence. It is now 
termed an Imago, or perfect insect; and is capable of 
propagation. 
Just after its exclusion, it is weak, soft, and languid : 
all its parts are covered with moisture ; and, if a winged 
insect, its wings have so little the appearance, either in 
shape, size, or colour, which they are about to assume, 
that it might be taken for a mutilated abortion, rather 
than an animal in the most vigorous stage of life. If it 
be a beetle, its elytra, instead of covering the back of the 
abdomen, are folded over the breast: their substance is 
soft and leathery, and their white colour exhibits no 
traces of the several tints which are to adorn them. If 
the insect be a butterfly or a moth, the wings, instead 
of being of their subsequent amplitude, and variegated 
and painted with a variety of hues and markings, are in 
large species scarcely bigger than the little finger nail, 
falling over the sides of the trunk, and of a dull muddy 
colour, in which no distinct characters can be traced. 
If the excluded insect be a bee or a fly, its whole skin is 
white and looks fleshy, and quite unlike the coloured 
