PART I 



THE LIFE-HISTORY OF ANIMALS 



CHAPTER I 



MOSQUITOES, SILKWORMS, AND DRAGON- 

 FLIES 



Animals not fully developed at birth. — It is fa- 

 miliar knowledge of us all that any animal when just 

 born differs from its parents more or less. The downy 

 little chick, just from the egg, is very different from the 

 old hen or crowing rooster; a kitten with its unopened 

 eyes and helpless little legs differs plainly from the strong, 

 large mother cat. These differences are due to the fact 

 that the chick and the kitten are not fully developed, or, 

 as we say, not full grown. And such differences are even 

 greater in some other animals, as, for example, butterflies 

 and frogs. Butterflies' eggs hatch, not into butterflies, 

 but into worm-like caterpillars, while newly hatched 

 frogs are not frog-like at all, but are the little, long-tailed, 

 fish-like creatures we call tadpoles. But the caterpillar 

 will develop into, or grow up to be, a butterfly, just like 

 the splendid one which laid the egg from which it hatched, 

 and each tadpole will grow to be a frog. What is true 

 of cats and chickens, frogs and butterflies, is true of all 

 other animals; that is, every animal has to go through 

 more or less growth and development in order to become 



