NEUROPTfcRA. 137 



reason to suppose them incapable of taking food when 

 in this state. Indeed, there seems little necessity for 

 their so doing, their sole work now being to enjoy the 

 new life on which they have entered ; to sport for a few 

 hours in a new element and with new faculties for en- 

 joyment; to perpetuate their species, and to die. 



The enormous multitudes of these insects, which some- 

 times come to life all at the same time, could hardly be 

 believed but by those who have seen them on the wing, 

 literally in clouds, as they may be seen in England. 

 Abroad they are still more plentiful, and Dr. Hagen 

 mentions that on the Curische-Nehrung these delicate 

 little creatures are used to feed pigs ! Yet of these, says 

 Aristotle, " the least is more noble than the sun, because, 

 it hath a sensitive soul in it." 



Our knowledge of the Mayfly is at present very im- 

 perfect. Not only are there double the usual number of 

 specimens to be studied in each species i.e., the male 

 and female sub-imago, as the first winged state is called, 

 as well as the male and female imago but all the in- 

 sects of the family change so greatly after death that 

 preserved specimens are of little value in the study. 



The larvee and pupae of the Ephemera are of a form 

 somewhat resembling that of the imago (though, of 



and that the gem signifies, not the escape of the soul from Death, but the 

 shortness of human life. 



The engraving is a faithful copy of one given by Guigniaut with the 

 following "explication." 



" Tte de mort surmontee d'un papillon, symbole de 1'ame, et ayant a 

 cote d'elle I'hydrie qui contient 1'eau rafraichissante, confcrmement aux 

 croyances egyptiennes transplantees en Grece et communiquees au Chris- 

 tianisme par 1'intermedaire des neo-Platoniciecs. CRKTJZER, Voy. torn. i. 

 liv. iii. p. 403, et passim ; et torn. iii. liv. ix. Pierre gravee, communiquee 

 a M. Creuzer, par M. Miinter, &c." 



