108 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



The three states of metamorphosis. 



only in its tender wings, and putting on a soft 

 and pulpy appearance; insomuch that Swammer- 

 dam was able to demonstrate a butterfly, with 

 its wings, to exist in a caterpillar, though it bore 

 but a faint resemblance to its future perfection. 

 The insect, therefore, in this state, undergoes no 

 other alteration but the change of its skin ; the 

 larvae are, for the most part, larger than the 

 insects when perfect, and are very voracious ; the 

 caterpillar of the cabbage butterfly eats double 

 what it would seem to require from its size; but 

 its growth is not adequate to its voracity. 



Pupa, the insect in this state, was formerly 

 called chrysalis, or aurelia, but as the appearance 

 of gilding is confined to a few butterflies only, 

 the term of pupa has been adopted in its stead; 

 because the lepidoptena especially, resembles an 

 infant in swaddling clothes ; and in this state all, 

 except those of the hemiptera class, take no nou- 

 rishment, 



Tonago is the third state : this name is given 

 by Linnaeus to this third change, in which the 

 insect appears in its proper shape and colors; 

 and as it undergoes no more transformations, it 

 is called perfect. In this state it flies, is capable 

 of propagating its species, and receives true an- 

 tennae which before, in most insects, were scarce 

 perceptible. 



The head of insects is without brain ; and on 

 the fore-part are in general placed two antennae, 

 or horns, which are peculiar to insects, and are 



