PLATE I. 



IV. Neuroptera. Wings fouf, naked, tranfparent, reticu* 



latedj with veins or nerves. Tail without fting. 

 V. Hymenoptera. Wings four. Membraneous j tail of the 



female armed with a fting. 

 VI. DiPTERA. Wings two. 

 VIL Aptera. No wings. 



Transformations of Insects. 



Many of our readers are no doubt acquainted with the fingular 

 transformations Infe£ls undergo, but we truft thofe will pardon a 

 digrelfion which may be ufefiil to thofe who have not that knowledge ; 

 and without premifmg farther we proceed to inform them, that Infers 

 in general undergo a material change in their form at ftated periods 

 of their lives ; there are fome, though few, which burft forth from 

 the egg perfectly formed, as Spiders, Sec. but the greater part exift 

 in four feveral ftates : the firft that of the egg, whence the Larva, or 

 Caterpillar is produced ; it is at firft very minute, but in this ftate it 

 feeds, fome kinds on one or two plants only, others promifcuoufly on 

 many, they therefore continue to increafe in fize, moulting feveral 

 times the outer fkin, until the deftined period of their dormant ftate 

 approaches ; they then fpin a web more or lefs ftrong according to the 

 fpecies, and are converted into the aurelia, or chryfalis ; and laftly 

 they burft forth in due feafon with all their accomplifhments perfe£t. 

 It is under this form they propagate a future race, and themfelves 

 perifti, as they rarely furvive the inclemencies of the winter. 



The antient naturalifts held fuppofitions very imperfedl and erro- 

 neous relative to thofe transformations, but Malpighi and Swammer- 

 dam proved by many accurate examinations clearly, that thofe changes 

 were not fuddenly effedled, but gradual ; and that under the form of 

 the Caterpillar they could diftinguifh the future changes the Infe6l 

 would undergo. 



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