The anomaly, already so manifest in the change from the first form to
the second, becomes even more so here; and we do not know what name to
give to an organism without a standard of comparison, not only in the
order of Beetles, but in the whole class of insects. While, on the one
hand, this organism offers many points of resemblance to the pupae of
the Flies in its horny consistency, in the complete immobility of its
various segments, in the all but absolute absence of relief which
would enable one to distinguish the parts of the perfect insect;
while, on the other hand, it approximates to the chrysalids, because
the creature, to attain this condition, has to shed its skin, as the
caterpillars do, it differs from the pupa because it has for covering
not the surface skin, which has become horny, but rather one of the
inner skins of the larva; and it differs from the chrysalids by the
absence of mouldings which in the latter betray the appendages of the
perfect insect. Lastly, it differs yet more profoundly from the pupa
and the chrysalis because from both these organisms the perfect insect
springs straightway, whereas that which follows what we are
considering is simply a larva like that which went before. I shall
suggest, to denote this curious organism, the term _pseudochrysalis_;
and I shall reserve the names _primary larva_, _secondary larva_ and
_tertiary larva_ to denote, in a couple of words, each of the three
forms under which the Sitares possess all the characteristics of
larvae.
Although the Sitaris, on assuming the form of the pseudochrysalis, is
transfigured outwardly to the point of baffling the science of
entomological phases, this is not so inwardly. I have at every season
of the year examined the viscera of the pseudochrysalids, which
generally remain stationary for a whole year, and I have never
observed other forms among their organs than those which we find in
the secondary larva. The nervous system has undergone no change. The
digestive apparatus is absolutely void and, because of its emptiness,
appears only as a thin cord, sunk, lost amid the adipose sacs. The
stercoral intestine has more substance; its outlines are better
defined. The four gall-bladders are always perfectly distinct. The
adipose tissue is more abundant than ever: it forms by itself the
whole contents of the pseudochrysalis, for in the matter of volume the
insignificant threads of the nervous system and the digestive
apparatus count for nothing. It is the reserve upon which life must
draw for its future labours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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