130 THE UNIVERSE. 



in the puddle wliicli it inhabits, all the tubes enter one 

 another like those of a telescope and the aerial tubes wind 

 inside them. If, on the contrary, a violent shower should 

 make the water rise above its bounds, they are all pro- 

 jected outwards, being drawn out as far as possible so that 

 their orifices still reach the surface. 



The final intention of nature is so manifest in this cir- 

 cumstance, that if we, in imitation of Eeaumur, plunge 

 one of these larvre into a glass containing only a little water, 

 and the quantity of this be gradually augmented, the in- 

 sect's tail lengthens in proj^ortion and even acquires an 

 extraordinary size, in order, without quitting the spot, to 

 serve the wants of respiration and open out on the surface 

 of the fluid. 



The ravages of insects, which sometimes occasion such 

 serious panics, are explained by their enormous fecundity. 

 This is sometimes so prodigious that some persons ima- 

 gine it results from a sudden creation en masm. On this 

 subject Leuwenhoeck calculated that a single domestic fly 

 can produce 740,496 young in three months; and Linnaeus, 

 basing his computations on the voracity of this famished 

 offspring, stated that three flies destroy the dead body of 

 a horse as quickly as a lion. 



The Termites display a still more extraordinary fecund- 

 ity; and, according to Prof Owen, a single Aphis in the 

 tenth generation has produced 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 

 young. 



The eggs of insects, of which our eye only perceives the 

 figure, appear like so many master-pieces of art when the 

 magnifying glass reveals their delicate chisellings and me- 

 chanism. They generally approach the form of a sphere or 

 an ovoid. Some butterflies lay cylindrical eggs, and those 

 of the gnat look like charming microscopical amphorge. 



