MEANING OF ORDERS. 75 



clings to us ; and where the different phases of 

 the same life assume such different external 

 forms, we are apt to overlook the fact that it is one 

 single continuous life. To a naturalist, metamor- 

 phosis is simply growth ; and in that sense the 

 different stages of development in animals that 

 undergo their successive changes within the egg 

 are as much metamorphoses as the successive 

 phases of life in those animals that complete their 

 development after they are hatched. 



But to return to our Butterfly. In its most 

 imperfect, earliest condition, it is Worm-like, the 

 body consisting of thirteen uniform rings ; but 

 when it has completed this stage of existence, it 

 passes into the Chrysalis state, during which the 

 body has two regions, the front rings being sol- 

 dered together to form the head and chest, while 

 the hind joints remain distinct ; and it is only 

 when it bursts from its Chrysalis envelope, as a 

 complete Winged Insect, that it has three distinct 

 regions of the body. Do not the different periods 

 of growth in this highest order explain the rela- 

 tion of all the orders to each other? The earliest 

 condition of an animal cannot be its highest con- 

 dition, it does not pass from a more perfect to 

 a less perfect state of existence. The history of 

 its growth is, on the contrary, the history of its 

 progress in development; and therefore, when 

 we find that the first stage of growth in the 



