50 THE MODEL INSECT. 



which there is more room still left for original research, or in 

 which such research is more likely to conduce to the general 

 advancement of the science. It has been said, indeed, that the 

 field of entomology in Britain is already fully explored ; but no 

 idea could be more erroneous. Not only are new tacts in the 

 economy of insects already known continually being discovered, 

 but every year is adding to our list of native species a considera- 

 ble number of insects not previously recognized as indigenous to 

 the British Islands. 



Before proceeding further, it may not be amiss to remind 

 our readers that all are not insects which are insects called. 

 The entomologist takes no heed of a number of little creatures 

 which popular phraseology everywhere assigns to his care. The 

 more precise and discriminating knowledge of the present day 

 cuts off large sections of the animal world, which naturalists 

 themselves, the great Linnteus included, formerly ranked with 

 the insect tribes. The " Model" insect is an animal which, 

 in its mature form, has a body separated into three distinct 

 regions, six legs, two antennas or feelers, and one or else two 

 pairs of wings. Let the reader make prisoner for a time of the 

 first House L'ly that settles on his nose, and he will see that the 

 gentleman corresponds to the description we have given. The 

 Common Wasp, a Cockchafer, or a Butterfly, would answer the 

 purpose equally well, and would also show how wide the range 

 of variation may be, while still preserving the same general 

 typical form. It is only in their mature or perfect state, how- 

 ever, that insects exhibit these distinctive characteristics, and 

 before that mature form is reached, they have, for the most part, 

 to undergo a more or less complete series of transformations. 



Nothing in. the whole range of natural history excites the 

 wonder of the observer more powerfully than these transforma- 

 tions or metamorphoses of the insect tribes. " If," say Kirby and 

 Spence in one of their most frequently-quoted passages, "a 

 naturalist were to announce to the world the discovery of an 

 animal which for the first five years of its life existed in the 

 form of a serpent ; which then penetrating into the earth, and 

 weaving a shroud of pure silk of the finest texture, contracted 

 itself within this covering into a body without external mouths 

 or limbs, and resembling, more than anything else, an Egyptian 

 mummy ; and -which, lastly, after remaining in this state with- 



