LAST ACT OF THE LARVA. 211 



individual, in the case of a blow-fly, without 

 attracting the attention of one person in a million." 

 So much more are we attracted by great things 

 than by small. 



The work of preparation finished, the insect 

 securely buried in its cell or warmly surrounded 

 "by its cocoon, or hanging up to the branch of a 

 tree, or in any other way concealed from view or 

 protected from injury, little more remains to be 

 added to the larva history. Its last action, after 

 settling itself in a comfortable position, is to cast 

 off its skin, which is generally, in the case of those 

 larvae which inhabit cells or cocoons, left inside the 

 recess : sometimes it is cast out. The period at 

 which the insect ceases to belong to the larva 

 stage, and passes into the next, varies, and will 

 receive notice in the following chapter. 



When in the vengeance of God upon the guilty 

 land of Egypt it pleased Him to send the plague 

 of insects, the exclamation of the magicians was : 

 " This is the finger of God." Such, in an admiring 

 sense, may be ours also as we look back upon what 

 we perceive God to have done for this humble 

 portion of His creation in the few past pages. 

 What provision, what wonderful forethought and 



