3'^' 



OF IN3i:CT5 IN GElTERAIr. 



^nats, on the other hand, go into water, where they re-> 

 iwain till the period of their winged ftate arrives. Some 

 eat their way into fteds and fruits, where they undergo 

 the diiFerent ch-angcs previous to their appearance on 

 wing. Man}^ lodge themfelves in animal bodies on the 

 approach of their transformation ; feveral of the aquatic 

 tribes bury ihernfelves among fand, encruded with a 

 glutinous fabflance ; while the numerous race of phalenae 

 wrap themfelves up in the leaves of trees, the bombyces, 

 or larger kinds, conftituting for themfelves a lilken web, 

 to prote£t them during that trying viciffitude of their 

 lives. 



In general, all infects provide for their fccurity before 

 their helplefs ftate arrive, by retiring from their ufual 

 haunts into fome fheltercd retreat. It is thus that the 

 worm of the butterfly provides for its fafety, by betak- 

 ing itftlf, while it has yet the power of motion, to the 

 hole of a wall, or the eave of a houfe : There fome are 

 fufpended by a thread, which nature aflifts them in pro- 

 viding ; fome hang by the head, others by the oppofita 

 extremity, and many by the middle. The cruftaceous 

 covering with which they are then clothed, affords ano= 

 ther inftance of the attention paid by nature to the pre- 

 xervation of her off pring, during a period when they are 

 not able to avoid external injury by flight. Thus pro- 

 tected by the muniilcence of providence, myriads of ani- 

 iiials fmk annually into a ftate of torpor fo profound as 

 appears to threaten the extinction of every vital power. 

 At the return of Spring, however, all nature feems again 

 io quicken into life ; her fervants awaken from their tor- 

 pid ftate, and enter upon their funcliona with enlarged 

 powerso 



