INSECTA. 437 



some rest much longer than others, as the hawk-moth the whole 

 winter ; but, I believe, not many rest very long. The gnat can hardly 

 be said to enter into the chrysalis state at all ; it cannot be said to stay 

 any time in that state. 



"When in the second state of fcetation, insects are undergoing the 

 changes peculiar to each kind; losing some parts, acquiring others, 

 while certain parts are changing. 



Of the Parts that change. — The digestive organs go through the 

 greatest change ; for, in some, the power is entirely annihilated. The 

 form of the mouth undergoes considerable change : some lose their 

 mouth altogether l , as the silk- worm ; others change one form to that of 

 another, according to the different foods and different ways of getting 

 them : of this kind are the humble-bee, common bee, and common fly. 

 In the first, viz. the silk-worm, the stomach is wholly lost, although 

 not the oesophagus (this is to be reconsidered) ; and the part of the gut 

 at the anus is elongated into a small canal, extending the whole length 

 of the abdomen, which cannot be called a gut, as it is not now a passage 

 for food. The second is where the stomach of the worm and caterpillar 

 is changed in size and shape, contracting in all directions, and becoming 

 extremely small in comparison to what it was. The oesophagus is 

 elongated into a stomach and intestine, which in some, as the beetle, 

 is of considerable length. 



The bags near the anus, in such as have them, as the black-beetle 

 [Geotrupes], contract until there is not the least vestige left. The parts of 

 generation are forming in both males and females, but arrive at very dif- 

 ferent degrees of perfection. In the silk-moth they are completed with 

 the other parts of the adult, which renders them fit for propagation the 

 moment they come into the perfect state, as the wasp, hornet, common 

 bee ; but in others, especially of the female, the parts are not to be 

 found, even long after the insect is perfected. But then these do not 

 propagate the same year; but as, probably, the males copulate the 

 same year, we find the male parts perfect. The adult legs are forming. 

 The horns (antennas) are forming. The wings, in those that have them, 

 which is by much the greatest number, are formed in this state. The 

 ant is an exception to this time of the formation of the wings ; for in 

 them the wings are not formed until the insect has performed every 

 natural function, even generation, which is the greatest. Some, as the 

 bee, wasp, &c, complete their wings in this state : in others, as the 

 silk- worm, fly, &c, the wings appear to be only partly formed, and 

 immediately expand upon being exposed. The air-vessels are forming 



1 [This is too emphatic a statement of the change from the mandibular to the 

 suctorial mouth ; although the latter may not be put to use by the domestic silk-moth.] 



