INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS 1461 



furnished with wings and active senses, and rejoic- 

 ing in the exercise of its new-born functions amid 

 the sunlight and the flowers. 



Such is an outline of the familiar process by which 

 the larva or caterpillar of the butterfly becomes trans- 

 formed or developed, to form the "imago" or perfect 

 and adult form. And if we review the stages exem- 

 plified in the process, we shall be able to detect in 

 each an obvious harmony and correspondence both 

 with the preceding and with the succeeding stage. 

 Thus we find that the life of the perfect and mature 

 insect is at the best of a comparatively short and tran- 

 sient nature, and its energies are directed chiefly to 

 reproduction to the deposition of eggs, from which 

 new individuals will, in due course, -be reproduced. 

 The larval stage, on the contrary, is devoted to nutri- 

 tion ; to the laying up, as it were, of a store of nour- 

 ishment, sufficient to last throughout the lifetime of 

 the being, and to sustain it while its adult functions 

 are being performed. 



Indeed, the entire lifetime of the higher insect may 

 be divided into, or comprised within, two distinct 

 periods. The first of these latter is the nutritive pe- 

 riod, represented by the caterpillar-state, when the 

 nutrition of the body is mainly provided for; and the 

 second period, no less defined than the first, is in- 

 cluded in the life of the perfect form, which is de- 

 voted to reproducing the species. This last we might 

 therefore term the reproductive period of insect-life. 



All insects, however, do not exemplify "metamor- 

 phosis" in so perfect a manner as does the butterfly. 

 The beetles, flies, bees, etc., and many other insects, 



