LETTER III. 



METAMORPHOSES OF INSECTS. 



VV ERE a naturalist to announce to the world the dis- 

 covery of an animal which for the first five years of its 

 life existed in the form of a serpent ; which then pene- 

 trating into the earth, and weaving a shroud of pure silk 

 of the finest texture, contracted itself within this covering 

 into a body without external mouth or limbs, and re- 

 sembling more than any thing else an Egyptian mummy ; 

 and which, lastly, after remaining in this state without 

 food and without motion for three years longer, should 

 at the end of that period burst its silken cerements, 

 struggle through its earthy covering, and start into day 

 a winged bird,— what think you would be the sensation 

 excited by this strange piece of intelligence ? After the 

 first doubts of its truth were dispelled, what astonish- 

 ment would succeed ! Amongst the learned, what sur- 

 mises ! — what investigations ! Amongst the vulgar, what 

 eager curiosity and amazement i All would be interested 

 in the history of such an unheard-of phenomenon ; even 

 the most torpid would flock to the sight of such a pro- 

 digy- 



But you ask, " To what do all these improbable sup- 

 positions tend ? " Simply to rouse your attention to the 

 metamorphoses of the insect world, almost as strange and 

 surprising, to which I am now about to direct your view, 



