806 THE PHILOSOPHY 



limbs, and the wings, of the fly are fo nicely folded up, that 

 they occupy a fmall fpace only under the two firfl rings of 

 the caterpillar. In the firft fix limbs of the caterpillar are 

 encafed the fix limbs of the butterfly. Even the eggs of the 

 butterfly have been difcovered in the caterpillar long before 

 its transformation. 



From thefe fadls it appears, that the transformation of in- 

 fe<fts is only the throwing off" external and temporary cover- 

 ings, and not an alteration of the original form. Caterpil- 

 lars may be confidered as analogous to the foetufes of men 

 and of quadrupeds. They live and receive nourifhment in 

 envelopes till they acquire fuch a degree of perfe<ftion as 

 enables them to fupport the fituation to which they are ulti- 

 mately deflined by Nature. 



One would not readily believe that the excrements of a 

 butterfly fhould be capable of exciting confternation in the 

 minds of the people. But this event has frequently happen- 

 ed in different places and nations. Among many other 

 prodigies which have terrified nations, ^ow^rj- of blood h.2.ve 

 been enumerated by hiflorians. Thefe fhowers of blood 

 were fuppofed to portend great and calamitous events, as 

 wars, the deftrudlion of cities, and the overthrow of empires. 

 About the beginning of July, in the year 1 608, one of thefe 

 pretended fhowers of blood fell in the fuburbs of Aix, and 

 for feveral miles round. This fuppofed fhower of blood, 

 M. de Reaumur remarks, would probably have been tranf- 

 mitted to us as a great and a real prodigy, if Aix had not 

 then been pofTefTed of a philofopher, who, amidfl other fpe- 

 cies of knowledge, did not negledl the operations and oecon- 

 omy of infects. This philofopher was M. de Peirefc, whofe 

 life is written by GafTendi. This life contains a number of 

 curious fadls and obfervations. Among others, M. de Peirefc 

 difcovered the caufe of the pretended fhower of blood at 

 AiXi which had created fo general an ala^rm. About the bc^ 



