

LAYING AND HATCHING OF EGGS. 59 



threads gummed together as they issue from the two 

 adjoining orifices of the spinner.' When it has 

 undergone this change, it has usually born the name 

 of nymph or pupa. 



" It may appear somewhat extraordinary, that a 

 creature which takes its food so voraciously prior to 

 its assuming the pupa state should live so long with- 

 out food after that assumption ; but a little consider- 

 ation will perhaps abate our wonder ; for when the 

 insect has attained the state of pupa, it has arrived 

 at its full growth, and probably the nutriment taken 

 so greedily is to serve as a store for developing the 

 perfect insect. 



" The bee when in its pupa state has been denom- 

 inated, but improperly, chrysalis and aurelia; for 

 these, as the words import, are of a golden yellow 

 color, and they are crustaceous, whilst the bee 

 nymphs are of a pale dull color, and readily yield to 

 the touch. The golden splendor to which the above 

 names owe their origin is peculiar to a certain species 

 only of the papilio or butterfly tribe. The term pupa, 

 which is employed by the higher class of entomolo- 

 gists, after the example of Linnaeus, signifies that 

 the insect is enveloped in swaddling clothes like an 

 infant ; a very apt comparison. Kirby and Spence 

 have remarked that it exhibits no unapt representa- 

 tion of an Egyptian mummy. When in this state, it 

 presents no appearance of external members, and 

 retains no very marked indications of life ; but within 

 this outward case its organs are gradually and fully 



