218 OUT OF DOORS. 



honey-sucker, with the most delicate digestive organ* 

 imaginable ; the creeping thing changed into a winged 

 being ; the nearly blind grub into a creature with eyes 

 of wonderful complexity ; and the whole form of body, 

 muscular system, nerves, and internal structure, being 

 totally changed to suit the altered condition in which 

 the remainder of its life will be spent. 



Take, for example, the chrysalis which we have just 

 dug out of the ground, and suppose the brown outer 

 skin to be transparent while the process of evolvement 

 is going on. During its caterpillar state nearly the 

 whole of its body is filled with a huge stomach, extend- 

 ing throughout the greater part of its length, and 

 tightly filled with food, as is likely in a creature that 

 is always eating. The skin, which to the mass of spec- 

 tators seems to contain nothing but a soft pulp, ia 

 lined with an array of flat and white muscles, and the 

 whole space between these muscles and the stomach is 

 filled up with fat, formed into rather hard lumps of 

 variable dimensions, and penetrated with the breathing 

 tubes, and some very slight nerves. Along the abdo- 

 men, and just below the skin, runs a chain of little 

 knots of nerve-like substance, connected together with 

 double cords of similar material ; and along the back 

 lies a chain of valves, which is analogous to the heart 

 of the higher animals. 



Throughout the transformation, the digestive, ner- 

 vous, and circulating systems retain their relative 

 positions, but are greatly altered in relative size and 



