INSECTS. 



165 



it was not until the middle of July of the following year 

 that the Butterfly was matured. 



When this period of second birth approaches, — so apt 

 an emblem of the resurrection, that the ancient' Greeks, 

 who used the same term (^rvxrji psyche) to signify a but- 

 terfly and a soul, called the resurrection " the hope of 

 worms," — it is manifested by a change in the appearance 

 of the Chrysalis. The skin becomes very thin and fragile, 

 and, for some days before the exclusion, the colours, spots, 

 and marks of the perfect Butterfly are distinctly per- 

 ceptible, through the transparent integument, but all in 

 miniature. 



At length the hour arrives ; the Chrysalis, which for 

 some hours has appeared uneasy, wriggling, and apparently 

 inflating its body, succeeds in splitting the thin and brittle 

 skin of the back. The imprisoned Butterfly pushes out ; 

 the head with its palpi and antennse and its spiral tongue, 

 and the legs, are all drawn out of their several sheaths, the 

 latter limbs are thrown forward, and the insect stands on 

 them, weak and staggering. It rests a moment or two, 

 then proceeds ; the painted wings now appear, minute and 

 hanging against the sides like wet paper, but perfect in 

 their colours and markings. The Butterfly is free ! 



It essays to lift its wings, but these organs, all soft and 

 flabby as they are, are utterly unfit for flight. But see, 

 a change is coming over them ! They are swelling irregu- 

 larly, crumpling up, puckering into folds here and there, 

 as their vessels are distending with fluids from the body. 

 They look hopelessly spoiled. Though small at first, they 

 were at least symmetrical ; but now they look like pieces 

 of wet paper crushed up in the hand and partially opened, 



