15 



a moth * issues from it, ejects from its mouth a quan- 

 tity of liquid matter to soften the end of its cocoon, 

 and then forces its way out. In the moth state it is 

 furnishycd with a very short tongue, and subsists only 

 upon the honey and dew of plants. 



The common potato-worm, when it ceases feeding, 

 descends into the earth, and is there changed into a 

 brown pupa of a cylindrical form, pointed at one end 

 and rounded at the other, whence proceeds a sort of 

 stem or hook that passes backwards beyond the middle 

 of the body. This steni, which is the only external 

 member it appears to have, is a case enclosing the 

 tongue of the creature. It passes the winter in the 

 earth below the reach of frost, and the next summer 

 the perfect insect * comes forth, its robust body decked 

 with large orange-colored spots, and its enormously 

 long tongue compactly rolled up like a watch-spring. 

 In the morning and evening twilight hundreds of these 

 insects may be seen, now darting from flower to 

 flower with the velocity and sound of humming-birds, 

 now poising upon their extended wings over the fra- 

 grant honeysuckle, uncoiling in an instant their slender 

 tongues, and thrusting them with unerring aim into 

 the nectared tubes of the blossoms. 



It is unnecessary to multiply examples ; enough 

 have been given to show that the forms, the organs 

 for taking food, the kinds of food, and the places of 

 abode of the insects which undergo ,1 complete trans- 

 formation, vary essentially in the larva and in the 

 perfect state of these insects. 



* Bomhyx castrensis. L. f Sphinx Carolina. L. 



