Perhaps few things would cause a person ignorant of insect life more amazement than if we were to hold before his eyes some of the varieties of pupæ in one hand, and the perfect insect in the other, and were then seriously to assure him that both were the same creatures in reality. "Can it be possible?" he might exclaim. "This dry, brown little mass, with these singular knobs, and this elegant insect with its gaudy wings and delicate figure--these the same being!" Nor when we look at the various figures of pupæ, should we be much surprised at his exclamation. In one of the cases at the British Museum is a very large pupa which we have had engraved, and which is here presented to the reader. In this curious creature the folding up of the limbs is very obvious; and some idea of its strange aspect may be formed from the representation of it here given. The pupæ of several moths are very singular in shape. In some there is a sort of little hook, which sticks out from the head, and seems as if it were intended to hang up the creature by. In others there is a kind of nose attached to the head, giving it a droll appearance. The cause of these protuberances is the long tongue of these moths, which, as it is much longer than their bodies, could not of course be contained in the pupa case, unless it was folded up; it is, therefore, neatly folded up and packed into these receptacles, where it is stowed away until, by the insect awakening to active life, this singular instrument becomes necessary to them, when it is withdrawn. The older naturalists, who loved to find out mimicries of all kinds in nature, used to be fond of painting pupæ with human faces, on account of the frequent resemblance to a Roman nose which is found among them. Goedart, a celebrated naturalist, has drawn several, which we are sure will excite the merriment of our readers, and we have therefore shown these remarkable creatures _as represented by him_ in the adjoining cut. One is a respectable-looking old gentleman's face, with his hair brushed up very primly off his forehead. Another resembles a mermaid, for it has the head of a lady, and something like a cap, but its tail is more like that of a fish. The others are quite caricatures. It is the introduction of a dot, to represent the eye, which gives the resemblance to the face in these figures; without it they are by no means strikingly like the face. Madame Merian has favoured us also with some very curious drawings of pupæ of the insects of Surinam, which appear more natural than those of the last author, and present a very fantastic aspect, by reason of the curious projections which stick out from their heads. A few of these are represented below. [Illustration: _Pupæ after Goedart._] [Illustration: _Curious Pupæ. From Madame Merian's work on the Insects of Surinam._]