Essays on the Microscope: Containing a Practical Description of the Most Improved Microscopes, a General History of Insects, etc., etc.Adams, George
Science
Essays on the Microscope: Containing a Practical Description of the Most Improved Microscopes, a General History of Insects, etc., etc.
Adams, George
Insects -- Early works to 1800; Microscopy -- Early works to 1800
I shall now return to the caterpillar, and take notice of the care and
provision it makes to pass from the larva state into that of the pupa or
chrysalis; which is, in general, a state of imperfection, inactivity,
and weakness, through which the insect, when it has obtained a proper
size, must pass; and in which it remains often for months, sometimes for
a whole year, exposed, without any means of escaping, to every event;
and in which it receives the necessary preparations for its perfect
state, and is enabled once more to appear upon the transitory scene of
time. During its passage from one state to the other, as well as when it
is in the pupa form, the microscopical observer will find many
opportunities of exercising his instrument.
The transitions of the caterpillar from one state to another, are to it
a subject of the most interesting nature; for in passing through them,
it often runs the risk of losing its life, that precious boon of heaven,
which is ever accompanied with a degree of delight, proportioned to the
state in which the creature exists, and the use it makes of the gift it
has received. If the caterpillar could therefore foresee the efforts and
exertions it must make to put off its present form, and the state of
weakness and impotence under which it must exist while in the pupa
state, it would undoubtedly choose the most convenient place, and the
most advantageous situation, for the performance of this arduous
operation; one where it would be the least exposed to danger, at a time
when it had neither strength to resist, nor swiftness to avoid the
attack of an enemy. All these necessary instructions the caterpillar
receives from the influence of an all-regulating Providence, which
conveys the proper information to it by its own sensations: hence, when
the critical period approaches, it proceeds as if it knew what would be
the result of its operations. Different species prepare themselves for
the change different ways, suited to their nature and the length of time
they are to remain in this state.
When the caterpillar has attained to its full growth, and the parts of
the future butterfly are sufficiently formed beneath its skin, it
prepares for its change into the pupa state; it seeks for a proper place
in which to perform the important business: the different methods
employed by these little animals to secure this state of rest, may be
reduced to four: 1. Some spin webs or cones, in which they inclose
themselves. 2. Others conceal themselves in little cells, which they
form under ground. 3. Some suspend themselves by their posterior
extremity; 4. While others are suspended by a girdle that goes round
their body. I shall describe the variety in these, as well as the
industry used in constructing them, after we have gone through the
manner in which the caterpillar prepares itself for, and passes through
the pupa state.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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