144 NATURAL HISTORY. [CH. IX. 



size, which, according to some, is hardly sooner than 

 the fifth or sixth year, it forms, by frequently turn- 

 ing itself, and moistening it with its glutinous saliva, 

 a smooth oval hollow in the earth, in which it lies, 

 and afterward remaining perfectly still for the space 

 of nearly a month, divests itself of its skin, and 

 commences pupa or chrysalis. 



It is now much shorter than before, of a rather 

 deeper colour, and exhibits, in a striking manner, 

 the rudiments of the large extended jaws and broad, 

 head, so conspicuous in the perfect insect : the legs 

 are also proportionably larger and longer than in 

 the larva state. The ball of earth in which this 

 chrysalis is contained is considerably larger than a 

 hen's egg, and of a rough exterior surface, and per- 

 fectly smooth and polished within. The chrysalis 

 lies three months before it gives birth to the com- 

 plete insect, which usually emerges in the months 

 of July and August. 



Bingley has a marvellous story of their supposed 

 rapacity, which, if not gravely stated by the rever- 

 end editor of the Animal Biography, as related to 

 himself by one of his own intimate and intelligent 

 friends, might have been supposed by the general 

 reader to have been borrowed from the Travels of 

 the veracious Munchausen. 



" An intimate and intelligent friend of the editor 

 informed him that he had often found several heads 



