DISSECTION OF A PUPA. 229 



the pupa firmly in the reader's memory, and will 

 enable him to find the account given of its history 

 clear, easy, and interesting. 



Having thus defined what the pupa state is, let 

 us take up one of these withered objects, and by 

 a little gentle treatment, with the assistance of a 

 delicate scissors, a sharp pointed penknife of very 

 keen edge, and two or three pins, we shall succeed 

 in unrolling the insect mummy. In order to obtain 

 the best sight of what the pupa case contains, it 

 will be advisable to select as large a pupa as can 

 be procured. Those of the butterfly tribe are 

 well suited for this purpose. If we are pretty 

 fortunate in our dissections, we shall succeed in 

 discovering, that within the membrane-like skin 

 there is exhibited a beautiful spectacle of order 

 and neatness. The legs, and wings, and other 

 external appendages, are folded down close to the 

 body of the insect. The feet are often crossed 

 smoothly over the breast, and the wings are 

 flattened against the side of the body ; the antennae 

 are also neatly arranged parallel with the legs ; 

 and altogether the insect presents a very singular 

 appearance, from the fact of all its organs being 

 thus smoothed down, compressed into the smallest 



