68 METAMORPHOSIS 



many of the older naturalists did not even conceive 

 that there was any relation between many of the 

 insects which are so diverse in habits and appear- 

 ance. 



For the most part, insects are able to fend 

 for themselves in all stages of their existence. 

 The mother insect, as a general rule, lays her 

 eggs on the plant or in the substance upon which 

 the young larvae are to feed, and leaves them 

 to their fate. In a more or less brief time they 

 hatch and at once commence feeding. Having 

 spent the first part of their lives in absorbing 

 all the nourishment they can, they reach their 

 maximum growth, and thenceforth the changes 

 which take place are organic, and produce a 

 creature of very different appearance. Insects 

 are divided roughly into two great divisions — 

 those which undergo a gradual metamorphosis, 

 such as the earwig and the grasshopper, and those 

 in which the change is apparently sudden. The 

 great majority of insects belong to this latter class, 

 and they are characterised by a definite period of 

 quiescence which intervenes between the stage in 

 which they grow and that in which they fly and 

 perform the functions which pertain to the adult 

 stage. 



It is during this quiescent period that the 

 wonderful changes in structure and organisation 

 take place. The larva, a simple, sometimes foot- 

 less worm, is, as it were, melted down and recast 



