14 THE OCELLATED SPHINX. 



The alteration of form during the different periods 

 of life which the insects of the papilionaceous tribe 

 undergo, affords a subject of the most pleasing con- 

 templation to the mind of the naturalist. Though a 

 deeply philosophical survey demonstrates that there 

 is no real or absolute change produced in the identity 

 of the creature itself, but that it is in reality only 

 the gradual and progressive evolution of parts before 

 eoncealed, which lay in embryo, masked under the 

 form of an insect of a widely different appearance, 

 yet it is justly viewed with the highest admiration, 

 and even generally acknowledged to be in the most 

 lively manner typical of the last eventful change of 

 humanity. 



If any regard is to be paid to a similarity of names, 

 it would seem that the ancients were sufficiently 

 struck with the transformations of the butterfly, and 

 its revival from a seeming temporary death, and 

 considered it as an emblem of the soul, the Greek 

 word ^vyji (Psyche) signifying the soul, and also a 

 butterfly. 



Modern naturalists, impressed with the same idea, 

 have drawn their allusions to the resurrection of the 

 body, from the dormant condition of papilionaceous 

 insects, during their state of chrysalis, and their 

 resuscitation from it ; but they have, unfortunately, 

 chosen a species the least proper for the purpose, 

 namely, the silk-worm, a species which neither 

 undergoes its change under the surface of the earth, 

 nor, when emerged from its tomb, is it an insect of 

 remarkable beauty ; but the larva, or caterpillar, 



