INTRODUCTION. XXV11 



They are probably founded on allegories of more 

 ancient and more sublime invention. 



These days are gone by; the metamorphoses, 

 now thoroughly known, have been stript of their 

 tales of marvel. 



The transformations of insects, more correctly 

 speaking, consist rather in a series of developments 

 than in any absolute metamorphosis ; being only a 

 transition of changes in organs which lay concealed 

 from human view, the caterpillar being compound in 

 its nature, with the germs of the imago state hidden 

 in a succession of cases. The first is the covering of 

 the pupa, which is concealed within three or four 

 mantles, the one over the other ; these will in succes- 

 sion enrobe the larva, and, as it enlarges, the parts 

 become visible, and are alternately thrown off, until 

 the perfect insect emerges from its confinement. 

 The celebrated Swammerdam found, by dissection, 

 the skins of the larva and pupa enveloped in each 

 other, and also the butterfly with all its organs, but 

 these in a fluid state. Malpighi discovered within 

 the chrysalis of a silkworm, that was only a few days 

 old, the eggs of the future moth : and those of the 

 Bombyx dispar were discovered by Reaumur within 

 the caterpillar, only seven days before its change into 

 the aurelia state. 



Although these discoveries disprove all miraculous 



VOL. I. C 



