INSECTS. 
245 
traverses the back, to connect the whole together 
till the proper season when the papilio is to be dis- 
charged from its confinement. If we open one of 
these cases, it will seem to present us with nothing 
but a kind of putrefaction, in which every thing is 
confounded ; but then this mass contains the ele- 
ments of a better state of existence, and composes 
the nutrimental juices which contribute to the 
grow th of a more perfect animal. The time for its 
enlargement at last arrives, and the creature then 
forces its way through the prison that contained it. 
The head first disengages itself through the aperture, 
and the body follows : for a little while it continues 
moist and weak ; but as the moisture evaporates 
the horns gradually lengthen, the legs and wings are 
extended, and at last the new animal, arrayed in all 
its glory, and in the full enjoyment of liberty, takes 
flight, and ranges through the air, without retaining 
the slightest similitude of its former condition. 
The Abbe La Pluche has given a pleasing account 
of the industry of the young caterpillars which 
swarm in apple-trees, bushes, &c. The papilio 
which proceeds from these chooses some beautiful 
leaf, on which she fixes her eggs in autumn, and 
soon after dies, glued and extended upon her be- 
loved family. The sun, whose rays have still some 
power, warms her eggs, and brings to life a multi- 
tude of little caterpillars, who without having ever 
seen their mother, and without the slightest model 
or instructions, immediately, with a kind of emula- 
tion, betake themselves to spinning, and with their 
