THE SEASON WHY. 327 



" For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them 



like wool : but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation 



from generation to generation." ISAIAH LI. 



Paley observes, that " the metamorphosis of insects from grubs 

 into moths and flies, is an astonishing process. A hairy caterpillar 

 is transformed into a butterfly. Observe the change. We have 

 four beautiful wings where there were none before ; a tubular 

 proboscis, in the place of a mouth with jaws and teeth ; six long 

 legs, instead of fourteen feet. In another case, we see a white, 

 smooth, soft worm, turned into a black, hard, crustaceous beetle, 

 with gauze wings. These, as I said, are astonishing processes, and 

 must require, as it should seem, a proportionably artificial apparatus. 



Fig. 79. THE PEACOCK BUITEBFLY. 



The hypothesis which appears to me most probable, is that, in the 

 grub, there exists at the same time three animals, one within 

 another, all nourished by the same digestion, and by a communica- 

 ting circulation ; but in different stages of maturity. The latest 

 discoveries made by naturalists, seem to favour this supposition. 

 The insect, already equipped with wings, is descried under the 

 membranes both of the worm and nymph. In some species, the 

 proboscis, the antennae, the limbs, and wings of the fly, have been 

 observed to be folded up within the body of the caterpillar ; and with 

 such nicety as to occupy a small space only under the two first 

 wings. This being so, the outermost animal, which, besides its 

 own proper character, serves as an integument to the other two, 

 being the farthest advanced, dies, as we suppose, and drops off first. 

 The second, the pupa or chrysalis, then offers itself to observation. 

 This also, in its turn, dies ; its dead and brittle husk falls to pioces, 

 and makes way for the appearance of the fly or moth. Now, if this 

 be the case, or indeed whatever explication be adopted, we have a 



