The reason why : $b a careful collection of many hundreds of reasons for things which, though generally believed, are imperfectly understood. A book of condensed scientific knowledge for the million
John Stuart Mill · en
There is a superstition connected with the death-watch,
which, like most superstitions, is based upon the theory of
_probabilities_. The death-watch is usually heard in the spring
of the year, and a superstition runs to the effect that some one
in the house will die before the year has ended. Persons who are
superstitious are never very strict in the interpretation of
their predictions; and therefore, whether a person dies in the
house or out of it, in the same room where the death-watch was
heard, or across the wide Atlantic, so that there be some kind
of relationship, or even acquaintance, between the person who
hears the omen, and the person dying, the event is sure to be
connected with the prophetic sounds of the death-watch. Little
weens the small timber-boring beetle, when he is tapping gently
to call his mate, and perhaps peeping into every corner and
crevice to find her, that he is sending dismay into the heart of
some superstitious listener, who, in ignorance of a simple fact,
overwhelms herself with an imaginary grief.
1302. _Why are insects in the first stage, after leaving the egg, said
to be in the "larva" state?_
Because the term larva is derived from the Latin _larvated_, meaning
masked, clothed as with a mask; the term is meant to express that the
future insect is disguised in its first form.
1303. _Why are insects in the second state said to be in the "pupa"
state?_
Because the term is derived from the Latin _pupa_, from a slight
resemblance in the manner in which the insects are enclosed, to that in
which it was the fashion of the ancients to _bandage their infants_.
1304. _Why are insects in the "pupa" stage also called "chrysalides?"_
Because, as the Latin term implies, it is adorned with gems. Many
chrysalides are _studded with golden and pearl-like spots_.
[Verse: "Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made
summer and winter."--PSALM LXXIV.]
1305. _Why are the perfect insects said to be in the "nymph" state?_
Because their joyful existence, and their beautiful forms, give them
a fancied resemblance to the _nymphs of the heathen mythology_. The
nymphs were supposed goddesses of the mountains, forests, meadows, and
waters.
This term has generally, but very improperly, been also applied to
the pupa state, so that _pupa_, _chrysalis_, and _nymph_ have all
been employed to represent one state. This is obviously an error,
as there is nothing in the condition of the _pupa_ or _chrysalis_
that can at all accord with the mythological idea of a _nymph_,
and which, in reference to the beautiful and joyous fly, finds a
much truer application.
CHAPTER LXVII.
1306. _Whence does the snail obtain its shell?_
Young snails come from the egg _with a shell upon their backs_.
1307. _How does the shell grow with the increase of size of the animal?_