254 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



chest and lower portion being distinct. The but- 

 terfly pupa belongs to this division. 



V. The insect, No. 5, is a pupa called the 

 Coarctate.* In this case the pupa is enclosed within 

 its larva skin, which forms a globular or oval case, 

 the pupa lying loosely in it as if it had shrunk to 

 a smaller size. The pupa of the blow-fly is an 

 example. 



Such are the five variations of pupae, as they 

 were recognised by Linnaeus the Complete, 

 Half -complete, Incomplete, Obtected, and Coarctate. 

 They are sufficiently minute for ordinary purposes : 

 and it will possibly save the reader some confusion 

 of ideas to endeavour to fix them in the memory; 

 so that when looking at an insect whose pupa state 

 may not be so very characteristic as that of the 

 blow-fly, or butterfly, -he may still be able to say 

 with confidence, that although it is unlike these, it 

 is nevertheless a pupa. On all subjects nothing 

 is of so much importance as clearness of ideas. 

 It is better to know only a few things, and to 

 understand them clearly, than to have a confused 

 and indistinct knowledge of a great number. It 



* From a Latin word, signifying " compressed into a small 

 compass." 



