82 NATURAL ARRANGEMENT OF INSECTS. 



— that then a change should come over it, so complete, 

 as that not a lineament of its first form was retained, — 

 that in this state, after remaining a misshaped lump, to 

 all appearance inanimate, it should suddenly burst 

 forth, full of life and joy, and with many-coloured 

 wings ascend into mid air, and derive its only sustenance 

 from the nectar of flowers ; — all this, we say, is one of 

 those miracles of nature, which, were it told of an in- 

 sect that had never yet been seen, the world would not 

 beheve. But the world, alas ! is absorbed in its own 

 concerns ; the things of time, in the minds of the mil- 

 lion, exclude those of eternity. And although in this, 

 as in numberless other instances, " Wisdom uttereth 

 her voice in the streets, and crieth aloud," — that voice 

 is disregarded. A living emblem is placed before our 

 eyes, of those changes which await Man : but by how 

 few is it regarded ! How few "lay it to their heart," 

 and bring the momentous question to themselves — Is 

 mine to be a change of happiness or of misery ? 



And deems weak man the future promise vain, 



When worms can die and glorious rise again ? 



(72.) The general peculiarities of the Lepidoptera 

 are so strongly marked, as to give to the whole group a 

 very determinate character. It seems hardly necessary, 

 in a work of this nature, to describe a form so univer- 

 sally known. As we must, however, enter into some 

 particulars, we will take the common scarlet admirable 

 butterfly as an explanatory type {fig. 1 .), both of the 

 larva or caterpillar (a), the pupa or chrysalis (6), and 

 the imago or perfect state (c). The wings are four, 

 broad, and ample, and rendered opake by a fine powder, 

 which, upon being magnified, is found to consist of 

 innumerable minute scales. The nourishment is imbibed 

 by means of a long trunk or proboscis, which is spirally 

 curved up when the insect is not feeding. The an- 

 tenna are long, composed of a vast number of very 

 short minute joints, which frequently form a club- 

 shaped mass at the end. The lower wings only, in some 



