CHAP. V. THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 31 



more as a larva; the latter passes through the same changes as 

 any other larva before reaching the perfect state. 



The changes which insect life passes through before reach- 

 ing maturity have excited alike the interest and astonishment 

 of mankind since the earliest ages. " To see the same 

 animal appearing first as a worm-like creature (Fig. 87, a), 



Fig. 87. 



slowly crawling along and devouring everything in its way, 

 and then, after an intermediate period of death-like repose 

 (Fig. 87, &), emerging from its quiescent state, furnished with 



wings adorned with bril- 

 liant colors (Fig. 88), and 

 confined in its choice of 

 food to the most delicate 

 fluids of the vegetable king- 

 dom, is a spectacle that, 

 indeed, must ever be re- 

 garded with the greatest 

 interest ; especially when 

 we remember that these 



dissimilar creatures are all composed of the same elements, 

 and that the organs of the adult were in a manner shadowed 

 out in all its previous stages." 



Let those who look with slight upon the pursuit of Ento- 

 mology learn that there are but few, if any, studies better 

 adapted to improve the mind and to mould the character of 

 the young. Inculcating as it does, the habit of observation, 



