346 EVENINGS AT THE inCEOSCOPE. 



soldered two other rerj slender rods, passing do"vm 

 nearly in a per2:)endicnlar direction, but a little diverg 

 ing ; and two other shorter rods pass down from the 

 front of the ring, parallel to these. After a while each 

 lateral pair of rods is united by a short cross-piece, and 

 the result is four lengthened rods, two of which go 

 down through the vizor into the chin-points, and two 

 larger and stouter ones through the ears into the 

 shoulder-points. This, then, is the solid skeleton, the 

 interest of which is much enhanced, when we observe 

 that it is formed, on the common plan, out of per- 

 forated lime-glass, the two ear-rods and the crest-rod 

 being pierced with a regular series of oval holes, and 

 bearing on their edges corresponding projecting points. 



!Now, to turn again to the gelatinous flesh. The 

 inner surface of the vizor, or that which would be in 

 contact with the face of the wearer, supposing it to be 

 a real helmet, has a great squarish orifice with a thick- 

 ened maro-in, which we see bv its movements to be 

 highly sensitive and contractile. Tliis square orifice is 

 the mouth of the larva, and it leads into a cavity in the 

 upper part of the vizor, which is the giillet ; and this 

 in its turn terminates in a narrowed extremity, which 

 passes into the orifice of a greater and higher cavity, 

 the lip of which embraces it just as the bung-hole of a 

 barrel receives and embraces the tube of a funnel. The 

 latter cavity occupies the chief part of the volume of 

 the helmet, the four rods diverging to inclose it. It is 

 the stomach. 



It adds to the beauty of the little helmet-shaped 

 creature, that while the greater portion of the substance 

 is of the most colourless transparency, the summit of 

 the crest and the tips of the shoiilder-points are tinged 

 with a lovely rose-red, Tlie whole exterior surface is, 



