TYPES OF METAMORPHOSIS 21 
To this stage belongs primarily the function of feeding and growing. 
The adult insect may or may not feed, but it never grows. To the 
adult stage belongs the function of mating and thus perpetuating the 
race. The pupa, which we find in insects with complete metamor- 
phosis, represents a resting stage devised to accommodate the tre- 
mendous changes taking place in the transformation of the wormlike 
larva into the winged adult. 
The type of metamorphosis constitutes a fundamental character in 
separating insects into groups. 
