or INSECTS IN GENERAL. ^^*^ 



neither clear nor Intelligible : It was then that ir.en began 

 to recognlfe, that fudden metamorphofes v/ere none of 

 the expedients which nature ennplojs fof the produftioii 

 of her offspring. This point was fuccefsfully laboured 

 by Malphigi and Swcanmerdatfi, who carefully exftmined 

 thofe infects that appear under different for.'ns. By dif- 

 fering them, a fiiort time before the period of their 

 transformation, they obferved that their firft form was 

 owing to a covering under which their difTerent members 

 were to acquire their proper fiz,e and firmuefs : That all 

 the parts of a butteifly, for example, were perfe£tly 

 d.iftindt under the Ikin of the worm which covered 

 them ; and that under the cruflaceous fliell of the 

 chryfalis, they were flill acquiring greater degrees 

 of ftrength^ and were fafl approaching to that flat^ 

 in which they were deftined to appear^ when the ani- 

 mal iiiould ?irrive at perfedlion, and be able to propa^. 

 gate its kind. 



From the experiments of thefe n?turaliils it appeared, 

 that all the parts of the moil perfecl: winged iniecl were 

 diftindlly formed, and gradually acquired fize and ftrengh, 

 under the different forms of a worm and a chryfalis, and 

 that its progrefs and growth proceeded rather by deve- 

 lopements, than by a real change : All the marvellous 

 ideas conveyed by the terms transforination and meta- 

 morphofes thus vanidied ; and a beautiful analogy was 

 eftabiiflied between the growth of all organifed beings, 

 ivhether in the animal or vegetable kingdoms. 



A fdk worm, or the vvorm of a butterfly, vrhich is a- 

 bout to enter into its chryfalis flate, is obferved for fomo 

 time before to grow languid, aftd to ceafe from gnawing 

 thofe plants of which it was formerly fo voracious : Af- 

 ter having retired into a place fit for its purpofe, and un- 



Vol. III. X X dergoing 



