TWOFOLD LIFE. 117 



look as well as before. If this precaution be not 

 taken, all the insects that have long hair, as the 

 humble-bee and others, will lose their good looks, 

 and their hair will be matted together in unseemly 

 elf-locks. 



Butterflies, and most of the Diptera, or two- winged 

 flies, can be instantaneously killed by a sharp pinch 

 on the under-surface of the thorax among the legs, 

 as the great mass of nerves is there collected. Many 

 people seem to fancy that the head is the vital part 

 in an insect ; and having pinched or run a pin 

 through its head, they think that they have effectu- 

 ally slain the creature, and marvel much to see it 

 lively some twenty-four hours afterwards. 



Especially is this the case with the large-bodied 

 moths, whose vitality is quite astonishing. You may 

 even stamp upon them, and yet not crush the life 

 out of that frail casket. If you drive the life out of 

 one-half of the creature, it only seems to take refuge 

 in the other ; and then retain a more powerful hold, 

 like a garrison driven into a small redoubt. 



It is not at all uncommon to find one of these 

 moths dead and dry as to its wings and limbs, which 

 snap like withered sticks if touched, and yet with so 

 much life in it as to writhe its abdomen if irritated, 

 and to deposit its eggs just as if it were in full ac- 

 tivity. 



Indeed, so strong is this power that the creature 

 seems to be gifted with a double life, one for itself 



