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
Those who are desirous to discover distinctly the various members of the
moth in the pupa, should examine it before the fore-mentioned fluid is
dried up, when it will be found to be only the moth with the members
glued together; these, by degrees, acquire sufficient force to break
their covering, and disengage themselves from the bands which confine
them. While in this state, all the parts of the moth may be traced out,
though so folded and laid together, that it cannot make any use of them;
nor is it expedient that it should, as they are too soft and tender to
be used, and pass through this state merely to be hardened and
strengthened.
To examine the moth concealed under the skin of a caterpillar, one of
them should be taken at the last change; when the skin begins to open,
it should be drowned in spirit of wine, or some strong liquor, and be
left therein for some days, that it may take more consistency and harden
itself; the skin of the caterpillar may then be easily removed: the
chrysalis, or feeble moth, will be first discovered, after which the
tender moth may be traced out, and its wings, legs, antennæ, &c. may be
opened and displayed by an accurate observer.
The parts of the moth or butterfly are not disposed exactly in the same
manner in the body of the caterpillar, as when left naked in the
chrysalis. The wings are longer and narrower, being wound up into the
form of a cord, and the antennæ are rolled up on the head; the tongue is
also twisted up and laid upon the head, but in a very different manner
from what it is in the perfect animal, and different from that which it
lies in within the chrysalis; so that it is by a progressive and gradual
change, that the interior parts are prepared for the pupa and moth
state. The eggs, hereafter to be deposited by the moth, are also to be
found, not only in the chrysalis, but in the caterpillar itself,
arranged in their natural and regular order.
While in this state, the creature generally remains immoveable, and
seems to have no other business but patiently to attend the time of its
change, which depends on the parts becoming hard and firm, and the
transpiration of that humidity which keeps them soft; the powers of life
are as it were absorbed in a deep sleep; the organs of sensation seem
obliterated, being imprisoned by coverings more or less strong, the
greater part remains fixed in those situations which the caterpillar had
selected for them till their final metamorphosis; some, however, are
capable of changing place, but their movements are slow and painful.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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