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their bodies till the young are ready to escape. Others invariably lay their eggs where their young, as soon as they are hatched, will find a plentiful supply of food immediately within their reach.

Most insects, in the course of their lives, are subject to very great changes of form, attended by equally remarkable changes in their habits and propensities. These changes, transformations, or metamorphoses, as they are called, might cause the same insect, at different ages, to be mistaken for as many different animals. For example, a caterpillar, after feeding upon leaves till it is fully grown, retires into some place of concealment, casts off its caterpillar-skin, and presents itself in an entirely different form, one wherein it has neither the power of moving about, nor of taking food; in fact, in this its second or chrysalis state, the insect seems to be a lifeless oblong oval or conical body, without a distinct head, or movable limbs; after resting awhile, an inward struggle begins, the chrysalisskin bursts open, and from the rent issues a butterfly, or a moth, whose small and flabby wings soon extend and harden, and become fitted to bear away the insect in search of the honeyed juice of flowers and other liquids that suffice for its nourishment.

The little fish-like animals that swim about in vessels of stagnant water, and devour the living atoms that swarm in the same situations, soon come to maturity, cast their skins, and take another form, wherein they remain rolled up like a ball, and either float at the surface of the water, for the purpose of breathing through the two tunnel-shaped tubes on the top of their backs, or, if disturbed, suddenly uncurl their bodies, and whirl over and over from one side of the vessel to the other. In the course of a few days these little water-tumblers are ready for another transformation; the skin splits on the back between the breathing-tubes, the head, body, and limbs of a mosquito suddenly burst from the opening, the slender legs rest on the empty skin till the latter fills with water and sinks, when the insect abandons its native element, spreads its tiny wings, and flies away, piping its war-note, and thirsting for the blood which its natural weapons enable it to draw from its unlucky victims.

The full-fed maggot, that has rioted in filth till its tender skin seems ready to burst with repletion, when the appointed time arrives, leaves the offensive matters it was ordained to assist in removing, and gets into some convenient hole or crevice; then its body contracts or shortens, and becomes eggshaped, while the skin hardens, and turns brown and dry, so that, under this form, the creature appears more like a seed than a living animal; after some time passed in this inactive and equivocal form, during which wonderful changes have taken place within the seed-like shell, one end of the shell is forced off, and from the inside comes forth a buzzing fly, that drops its former filthy habits with its cast-off dress, and now, with a more refined taste, seeks only to lap the solid viands of our tables, or sip the liquid contents of our cups.

Caterpillars, grubs, and maggots undergo a complete transformation in coming to maturity; but there are other insects, such as crickets, grasshoppers, bugs, and plant-lice, which, though differing a good deal in the young and adult states, are not subject to so great a change, their transformations being only partial. For instance, the young grasshopper comes from the egg a wingless insect, and consequently unable to move from place to place in any other way than by the use of its legs; as it grows larger it is soon obliged to cast off its skin, and, after one or two moultings, its body not only increases in size, but becomes proportionally longer than before, while little stump-like wings begin to make their appearance on the top of the back. After this, the grasshopper continues to eat voraciously, grows larger and larger, and hops about without any aid from its short and motionless wings, repeatedly casts off its outgrown skin, appearing each time with still longer wings, and more perfectly formed limbs, till at length it ceases to grow, and, shedding its skin for the last time, it comes forth a perfectly formed and mature grasshopper, with the power of spreading its ample wings, and of using them in flight.

Hence there are three periods in the life of an insect, more or less distinctly marked by corresponding changes in the form, powers, and habits. In the first, or period of infancy, an insect is technically called a larva, a word signifying a mask, because

therein its future form is more or less masked or concealed. This name is not only applied to grubs, caterpillars, and maggots, and to other insects that undergo a complete transformation, but also to young and wingless grasshoppers, and bugs, and indeed to all young insects before the wings begin to appear. In this first period, which is generally much the longest, insects are always wingless, pass most of their time in eating, grow rapidly, and usually cast off their skins repeatedly. The second period, wherein those insects that undergo a partial transformation, retain their activity and their appetites for food, continue to grow, and acquire the rudiments of wings, while others, at this age, entirely lose their larva form, take no food, and remain at rest in a deathlike sleep,-is called the pupa state, from a slight resemblance that some of the latter present to an infant trussed in bandages, as was the fashion among the Romans. The pupa from caterpillars, however, are more commonly called chrysalids, because some of them, as the name implies, are gilt or adorned with golden spots; and grubs, after their first transformation, are often named nymphs, for what reason does not appear. At the end of the second period, insects again shed their skins, and come forth fully grown, and (with few exceptions) provided with wings. They thus enter upon their last or adult state, wherein they no longer increase in size, and during which they provide for a continuation of their kind. This period usually lasts only a short time, for most insects die immediately after their eggs are laid. Bees, wasps, and ants, however, which live in society, and labor together for the common good of their communities, continue much longer in the adult state.

In winged or adult insects, two of the transverse incisions, with which they are marked, are deeper than the rest, so that the body seems to consist of three principal portions, the first whereof is the head, the second or middle portion the thorax, or chest, and the third or hindmost the abdomen, or hind-body. In some wingless insects these three portions are also to be seen; but in most young insects, or larvæ, the body consists of the head, and a series of twelve rings or segments, the thorax not being distinctly separated from the hinder part of the body, as may be perceived in caterpillars, grubs, and maggots.

The eyes of adult insects, though apparently two in number, are compound, each consisting of a great number of single eyes closely united together, and incapable of being rolled in their sockets. Such also are the eyes of the larvae, and of the active pupa of those insects that undergo an imperfect transformation. Moreover, many winged insects have one, two, or three little single eyes, placed near each other on the crown of the head, and called ocelli, or eyelets. The eyes of grubs, caterpillars, and of other completely transforming larvæ, are not compound, but consist of five or six eyelets clustered together, without touching, on each side of the head; some, however, such as maggots, are totally blind. Near to the eyes are two jointed members, named antennæ, corresponding, for the most part, in situation, with the ears of other animals, and supposed to be connected with the sense of hearing, of touch, or of both united. The antennæ are very short in larvæ, and of various sizes and forms in other insects.

The mouth of some insects is made for biting or chewing, that of others for taking food only by suction. The bitinginsects have the parts of the mouth variously modified to suit the nature of the food; and these parts are, an upper and an under lip, two nippers or jaws on each side, moving sidewise, and not up and down, and four or six little jointed members, called palpi or feelers, whereof two belong to the lower lip, and one or two to each of the lower jaws. The mouth of suckinginsects consists essentially of these same parts, but so different in their shape and in the purposes for which they are designed, that the resemblance between them and those of biting-insects is not easily recognized. Thus the jaws of caterpillars are transformed to a spiral sucking-tube in butterflies and moths, and those of maggots to a hard proboscis, fitted for piercing, as in the mosquito and horse-fly, or to one of softer consistence, and ending with fleshy lips for lapping, as in common flies; while in bugs, plant-lice, and some other insects resembling them, the parts of the mouth undergo no essential change from infancy to the adult state, but are formed into a long, hard, and jointed beak, bent under the breast when not in use, and designed only for making punctures and drawing in liquid nourishment.

The parts belonging to the thorax are the wings and the legs. The former are two or four in number, and vary greatly in form and consistence, in the situation of the wing-bones or veins, as they are generally called, and in their position or the manner in which they are closed or folded when at rest. The under-side of the thorax is the breast, and to this are fixed the legs, which are six in number in adult insects, and in the larvæ and pupae of those that are subject only to a partial transformation. The parts of the legs are the hip-joint, by which the leg is fastened to the body, the thigh, the shank (tibia), and the foot, the latter consisting sometimes of one joint only, more often of two, three, four, or five pieces (tarsi), connected end to end, like the joints of the finger, and armed at the extremity with one or two claws. Of the larvæ that undergo a complete transformation, maggots and some others are destitute of legs; many grubs have six, namely, a pair beneath the under-side of the first three segments, and sometimes an additional fleshy prop-leg under the hindmost extremity; caterpillars and false caterpillars have, besides the six true legs attached to the first three rings, several fleshy prop-like legs, amounting sometimes to ten or sixteen in number, placed in pairs beneath the other segments.

The abdomen, or hindmost, and, as to size, the principal part of the body, contains the organs of digestion, and other internal parts, and to it also belong the piercer and the sting with which many winged or adult insects are provided. The piercer is sometimes only a flexible or a jointed tube, capable of being thrust out of the end of the body, and is used for conducting the eggs into the crevices or holes where they are to be laid. In some other insects it consists of a kind of scabbard, containing a central borer, or instruments like saws, designed for making holes wherein the eggs are to be inserted. The sting, in like manner, consists of a sheath enclosing a sharp instrument for inflicting wounds, connected wherewith in the inside of the body is a bag of venom or poison. The parts belonging to the abdomen of larvæ are various, but are mostly designed to aid them in their motions, or to provide for their respiration.

An English entomologist has stated, that, on an average, there are six distinct insects to one plant. This proportion is

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