ix] PAST AND PRESENT 121 



most instructive, if humbling fact that ' there are 

 many more things of which we are ignorant.' The 

 passage from creeping to flight, as the caterpillar 

 becomes transformed into the butterfly, was a mystery 

 to those who first observed it, and many of its aspects 

 remain mysterious still. Perhaps the most striking 

 result of the study of insect transformation is the 

 appreciation of the divergent specialisation of larva 

 and imago, and it is a suggestive thought that of the 

 two the larva has in many cases diverged the more 

 from the typical condition. The caterpillar crawling 

 over the leaf, or the fly-grub swimming through the 

 water, may thus be regarded as a creature preparing 

 for a change to the true conditions of its life. It is 

 a strange irony that the preparation is often far 

 longer than the brief hours of achievement. But the 

 light which research has thrown on the nature of 

 these wonderful life-stories, the demonstration of the 

 unseen presence and growth within the insect, during 

 its time of preparation among strange surroundings, 

 of the organs required for service in the coming life 

 amid its native air, confirm surely the intuition of 

 the old-time students, who saw in these changes, 

 so familiar and yet so wonderful, a parable and a 

 prophecy of the higher nature of man. 



