264 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



his cave. But ordinary mortals would consign 

 themselves to the perils of so long a night with 

 reluctance, apprehending a fate no better than 

 that which befel the magician who ordered 

 himself to be cut in small pieces and put in 

 pickle, with the expectation of becoming young 

 again." 



But this is in every respect erroneous as a deduc- 

 tion from these experiments on insects. It must not 

 be forgotten, that these experiments were made at 

 a time of the insect's life when it is naturally 

 torpid, and not upon the perfect insect. Had 

 Reaumur attempted to prolong the life of a but- 

 terfly, he would have failed completely, that is, if 

 he had adopted the same means ; so that all which 

 we can infer from these results is simply this, that 

 we can only prolong or shorten the pupa state, 

 which is a state of torpidity, a kind of half-way 

 between life and death."* The human frame knows 

 no such state after birth as can be properly com- 



* All pupae cannot be thus hastened or retarded by influence 

 of external heat or cold. The pupae of a moth, very common in 

 our fields, if all exposed to the same temperature will some of 

 them develop this year, some the next, and some the year 

 following. This singular fact cannot be explained. 



