34^? OF INSECTS IN GENERAE* 



dergoing a few convulfive ftrnggles, the ikiti which co" 

 vered it, and gave it the form of a worm, burfts, and the 

 animal within makes its appearance ; at firfl it is foft and 

 tender, and covered with a vifcous fluid which afcends 

 from the body, but which afterwards hardens into that 

 cruftaceous fKell in which all the members are again 

 locked up, till they acquire greater flrmnefs and liability. 

 This x'ifcous fluid, which is generally feen coloured and 

 opaque in its cruftaceous fiate, is at firfl: tranfparent, 

 and through it the wings, limbs, and antennae of the 

 butterfly, are clearly perceptible. iW. dc Keauimire col- 

 lected feveral hundreds of thefe worms before their trans- 

 formation, and placed them together upon a table, whers 

 he had many opportunities of examining them as they 

 palled from the ons ftate to the other: It was then that 

 he diftin£lly perceived all the different members of the 

 butterfly, before the chryfalis had alTumed its hard and 

 apparently inanim.'te ftate *. 



After having remained for feme time in this torpid 

 ftate of a nymphe, chryfalis, or pupa, the limbs of the ani- 

 mal acquire fufficient ftrength to perform their fun£lionsi 

 and it employs them in breaking open the fecond prifon. 

 Gn this event al? the members are fet at liberty, and inftant- 

 , ly aiTume that poflure and arrangement which is moft: 

 fuited to the new funclicns with which they are now to 

 be charged : By thefe dilf. rent proceflfes does the butter- 

 fly arrive at that ftate in which it poffeiTes all the facul- 

 ties which are enjoyed by the moft perfefl: of its kind. 



All infc6ls do not undergo the fame number of trans- 

 formations before they arrive at the winged ftate. 



Som^ 



*■ Vide Memoires pour Ssrvir a rhift. dej infcftcs, torn, i. p. Ji-f- 



