INSECTS. 



289 



and the covering with which it surrounds itself a pupa- 

 case or cocoon. It then undergoes a wonderful change, 

 becoming the full-formed insect or imago the ugly 

 worm, that a short time previous had surrounded itself 

 with a silken cocoon, bursting its case and flying off a 

 gay, attractive and resplendent butterfly. From crawl- 

 ing meanly over the ground or the foliage, leaving a 

 slimy streak behind, or horrible with a greenish smooth 

 body and clinging feet, or disgusting with innumerable 

 bristles, it soars away, its gay plumage glittering in the 

 sunlight as it flits from flower to flower, the envy and 

 admiration of the human female sex. How much is 

 there not in beauty ! 



Many insects live for years as worms, and but a few 

 hours in their perfect state. The ephemerae, so called 

 from appearing in the morning and dying before night, 

 often do not reach half that age, although if the sexes 

 are separated they will sometimes attain the great age 

 of several weeks. They may be regarded as sacrificing 

 their lives for the tender passion. They cover our waters 

 in Summer, warmed into existence by the sun's rays, flit- 

 ting in a graceful but inefficient way from place to place, 

 or floating calmly upon the surface, dropping back into 

 nonentity with the departing sunlight. They are some- 

 times, especially in the southern country, quite large, and 

 include what among fishermen are known as the May 

 flies. 



In some classes the change from the larva is not so 

 remarkable, the worm having much of the appearance, 

 and many of the distinctive marks of the perfect fly, 

 aa for example the bee ; in these the metamorphose is 



