4 LADY-BIRD TRANSFORMATIONS. 



its extraordinary vitality in flying away after an immersion 

 of four and twenty hours in ardent spirits, which first at- 

 tracted the attention of Kirby. and led him, for the amuse- 

 ment and benefit of thousands, to adopt the study of insects. 

 Yet of the millions who are well enough acquainted, by sight, 

 with this common Beetle, so gaily distinguished from the 

 darker brethren of ' its order, how few know a single word 

 about its history, or suspect that, besides being a pretty, it is 

 a useful, little animal. 



Nearly everybody has a 'knowledge, more or less accurate, 

 of the transformations undergone by Moths and Butterflies, 

 (the Lepidoptera of naturalists,) but not many perhaps are 

 aware that most other insects go through similar changes. 

 Those of the Lady -bird are very curious, and the difference 

 of form between its long flat figure in the first or larva stage 

 of being, and. its half spherical shape as a wifiged Beetle, is 

 scarcely less striking than that betwixt 'the Butterfly and the 

 Caterpillar from which it has expanded. 



But let us begin with the beginning of the Lady -bird's life, 

 even from its commencement in the egg shell. The eggs are 

 of a bright yellow, small, flat, and oval ; and, laid 'close toge 

 ther in patches of a score and upwards, are to be found through 

 out the spring and summer, glued to a variety of leaves. It 

 must not be imagined, however, that the mother insect by whom 

 they are thus deposited is ever so regardless of the welfare of 

 her family as to commit it, while in embryo, to the barren 



