itself in the air the whole day, rivalling the flight of birds, 

 and the brilliancy of the peacock. Consider this insect 

 through the wonderful progress of its life, how different is 

 the first period of its being from the second, and both from 

 the parent insect ; its changes are an inexplicable enigma 

 to us : we see a gi-een Cateri)illar furnished with sixteen 

 feet, creeping, hairy, and feeding upon the leaves of a 

 plant ; this is changed into a Chrysalis, smooth, of a golden 

 lustre, hanging suspended to a fixed point, without feet, 

 and subsisting without food : this insect again undergoes 

 another transformation, acquires wings and six feet, and 

 becomes a variegated Butterfly, living by suction upon 

 the honey of plants. What has nature produced more 

 worthy of our admiration ? Such an animal coming 

 upon the stage of tlie world, and playing its part there 

 under so many different masks ! In the egg of the Pajnlio, 

 the epidermis, or external integument falling oft; a Cater- 

 pillar is disclosed ; the second epidermis drying, and being 

 detached, it is a Chrysalis ; and the third, a Butterfly.* 



" Where is the silken shroud ? the grov'ling worm ? 

 Where now tlie veil which once enshrined eacli form ? 

 Where tiie cold, lifeless chrysalis of clay? 

 In gold! in glory! in the blaze of day ! " sillcry. 



" The metamorpliosis of insects," observes Paley, " is an 



astonishing process. A hairy Caterpillar is transformed 



• Linnajus Orat. on Insects, yim. Acad. vol. ii. 



