34 Proceedings of the 



metamorphosis, that is, that they quit the egg, not in the 

 shape of caterpillars, but as six-legged insects, nearly similar 

 in form to the perfect insect, but without wings, and, as will 

 be afterwards shown, with some other parts only partially 

 developed ; that after so appearing they at no time go into a 

 dormant chrysalid state, but, after casting their skin a cer- 

 tain number of times, the wings and other perfect forms of the 

 parts of the insect make their appearance. The first stage 

 of these insects after their appearance out of the egg has been 

 treated by entomologists as a peculiar form of the larva state, 

 which Westwood has characterized as " homomorphous," or 

 " monomorphous," from its resemblance to the perfect insect 

 after its first moultings ; and when the wings begin to appear it 

 was said to pass into the pupa state, and was called an active 

 nymph, or pupa. Professor Owen, however, has pointed out 

 that we ought not to look upon these " homomorphous " larvae 

 as true larvae, but that the true larval condition is to be sought 

 for in the egg. He states that " these insects " (the orthop- 

 terous and hemipterous) " are at one stage of their develop- 

 ment apodal and acephalous larvae, like the maggot of the fly ; 

 but instead of quitting the egg in this stage, they are quickly 

 transformed into another, in which the head and rudimental 

 thoracic feet are developed to the degree which characterizes 

 the hexapod larvae of the Carabi and Petalocera ; the thorax 

 is next defined, and the parts or appendages of the head are 

 formed, at which stage of development the young orthopteran 

 corresponds with the hexapod antenniferous larva of the 

 Meloe ; but it differs from all coleopterous larvae in being 

 inactive, and continuing in the egg almost until all the pro- 

 portions and characters of the mature insect are acquired, 

 save the wings."* 



This philosophic view was, I believe, first enunciated by 

 Owen. At any rate it has received his approval, and, I may 

 add, the sanction derived from his personal observation ; for 

 in an after-passage on the same subject, and. which I have 

 pleasure in quoting for more reasons than one, he says, " Metro- 

 politan duties shut out much of the field of nature ; but still 

 she may be found and studied everywhere. I first learned to 



* Lectures on Invertebrate Animals, Ed. 1855, p. 424. 



