Microscopical Essays, 



qiiadricornis of Linnaeus (Fauna Suecica, edit. Stockholm, 1761, 

 No; 2049), changes confiderably after it's birth.* The julus is 

 an. infect with a great number of feet, fome fpecies having, an 

 hundred pair and upwards. M. De Geer has given a defcription 

 of one with more than two hundred pair/f and yet thefe at their 

 birth have only three pair, the reft, are not perceived till fome 

 time after,. 



We {hall now return to the caterpillar, and take notice of the 

 care and provifion it makes to pafs from the larva ftate into that 

 of the pupa,, orchryfalis ; which is, in general, a- ftate of imper- 

 fection, inactivity, and. weaknefs, through which the infect:, 

 whea it has obtained a proper fize,_muft pafs ; and in which 

 it remains often for months, fometimes for a > whole year, ex- 

 pofed, without any means of efcaping, to every event ; arid in 

 which it receives the neceffary preparations for it's perfect ftate, 

 and is enabled once more to appear upon the tranfitory fcene of 

 time. During it's paftage from one ftate to the other, as well as 

 when it is in the pupa form, the microfcopical obferver will find 

 many opportunities of exercifing his inftrument. 



The transitions of the caterpillar from one ftate to another, are 

 to it" a fubject of the molt interefting nature ; for in patting 

 through them, it often. runs the riik of lofmg it's life, and life is 

 the greateft boon the Creator can bellow ; it is ever accompanied 

 with a degree of delight proportioned to the ftate in which the - 

 creature exifts, and the ufe it makes of the gift it has received. If 

 the caterpillar could therefore forefee the efforts and exertions it 



muft; 



* De Geer Memoires-pour^fe'rvir aTHiftoire des Thfe&es, torn, i, p« 155., 

 i Memoiresjdes Sgavans etrangers, torn. 3, p. 61. 



