GROWTH OF LARVAE. 145 



the larva becomes very fat and plump ; and should 

 it unhappily cross the path of any bird, it would 

 probably be nipped up as a dainty morsel for the 

 little ones in the distant nest. In birds, beasts, 

 and fishes, the rate of growth is much slower, and 

 the amount of increase much less. Fortunate is 

 it for us that it is so ; for what would become of 

 mankind if animals of the size of dogs could grow 

 in a month to the size of elephants, or young 

 elephants to the size of litth hills ? yet these com- 

 parisons are not exaggerated, remembering the 

 increase and growth of the silk-worm and of 

 larvae generally. 



