THE WORD IMAGO. 313 



It would be a great mistake to suppose that the 

 insect, so soon as it leaves the pupa-case, is in that 

 instant in every respect similar to what is known 

 to us as the perfect insect. When, for example, 

 a butterfly has just succeeded in extricating itself 

 from its pupa-case, if we were to take it up in the 

 expectation of finding it all at once decked with 

 the glories of its wings, and elegant in its form, 

 we should be disappointed. Owing to the cramped 

 position which its limbs, and wings, and other 

 organs, have so long been made to occupy, its 

 appearance when it emerges from the pupa is 

 necessarily different from that which it wears 

 after all its limbs have been in free exercise, and 

 the flutter of its wings has been heard over hill 

 and dale, throwing the gentle air into an irregular 

 line of tumult. 



Now that summer has come, abundant oppor- 

 tunities for watching insects in all their stages 

 may be had; and by careful searching of the 

 garden, field, and woodland, a number of pupas 

 may be discovered on the very eve of disclosing 

 the imago, or perfect insect. Let us suppose 

 that the reader has not looked in vain ; but has 

 brought home in a tin box several of these 



