AN INSECT PRISONER. 275 



Helpless as it appears, it will certainly make its 

 way out, and taste the sweets of liberty, and be 

 wafted along the fields of air. But how ? Let 

 us suppose a man in such a condition ; let his 

 feet be bandaged together, so that they cannot 

 move; let a strait-jacket be put upon his body, 

 and secure his arms and hands: after this, let a 

 leathern bag be put over his head, and tied down 

 round his middle; then put him in a cellar, and 

 bid him work his way out and up the stairs until 

 he reached the front door, where he must undo 

 his bandages, and slip himself out of his strait- 

 jacket and hood ; after which, he may go wherever 

 he likes. What a feeling of despair would fill the 

 poor prisoner's mind, promised his release on con- 

 dition that he should accomplish it in that way ! 

 To him it would be a task altogether impossible, 

 even though his life were offered as the reward of 

 his success. It is not less a question of life and 

 death to the insect than it might be to him ; yet its 

 extrication is accomplished, not only in a very 

 simple, but in a very easy manner. 



If the reader will carefully examine the repre- 

 sentation of the insect given in the last page he 

 will notice that the pupa case is provided with 



