METAMORPHOSES OF INSECTS. Hi 



two moveable rings, whilst in front we see an oblique band, 

 representing the future wings of the perfect animal. The time 

 during which the Bombyx remains thus shut up in a Chrysalis 



FIG. 331 CHRYSALIS OF- THE SILKWORM. FIG. 332. SILKWORM MOTH. 



state, varies according to the temperature. If the heat is from 

 60 to 65 degrees, they come out of it in a perfect state on the 

 eighteenth or twentieth day. In order to open the Cocoon, 

 they moisten it at one extremity with a particular liquid, which 

 they throw up from the stomach ; and then they violently strike 

 their head against the part thus softened. When the Bombyx 

 has thus finished its metamorphosis, it presents itself under the 

 form of a Moth, with whitish wings ; its mouth is no longer 

 furnished with jaws, as in its early state, but is prolonged into a 

 rounded spiral trunk ; its legs are slender and lengthened, and 

 its internal conformation differs as much from that of the Larva, 

 as its external form. Almost immediately after this second 

 birth, the Moths seek each other for the purpose of reproduction ; 

 and the females subsequently deposit their eggs, of which the 

 number sometimes amounts to more than five hundred for each 

 of these insects ; and at last, after having lived in a perfect state 

 for ten or twenty days, during which time they take no food, 

 they die. 



631. Among Bees we meet with still greater changes ; since 

 in their Larva state they are completely destitute of legs, and 

 resemble small worms. It is the same with Flies, Gnats, 

 and a great number of other insects ; thus the vermiform animals 

 which swarm in putrid carrion, and which are known under the 

 name of Maggots, are nothing else than the larvaa of the Meat-fly. 

 The Gnats or Musquitoes, which fly in such large swarms, and 



