Metamorphosis of caterpillars. of Nature. It is entitled on various accounts to our most attentive consideration. The manner in which caterpillars prepare for this change is highly astonishing. They are not transformed directly into butterflies, but first pass through an intermediate state. After shedding its skin three times, the caterpillar at length changes its form, and is metamorphosed into an object which has not the least appearance of being a living creature. It is enclosed in a hard case, and is called a chrysalis. In this state it remains a week, a fortnight, or a month, and sometimes three, six, or ten months, till at length a butterfly issues from the shell, There are, properly speaking, two classes of papilionaceous insects: butterflies, and phalane, or moths. In the one the wings are erect; in the other drooping. All the species of the former fly during the day, but the latter almost exclusively confine their excursions to the night. The caterpillars from which the moths are produced, when the period of their transformation approaches, either enclose themselves in a bag, which they spin for the purpose, or bury themselves in the ground. All those which are destined to become butterflies, suspend themselves in the open air on trees, plants, rails, walls, or any other object of that kind. For this purpose they spin a very small web, with an extremely fine thread, and then suspend themselves by the heels, with the head turning upward. Some species of this class, for instance, all the kinds of hairy caterpillars, remain in this state perpendicular with their heads downward; others spin a fine thread, which goes round the middle of the body, and is fastened at both ends. In one of these two ways all the butterfly caterpillars prepare Metamorphosis of caterpillars. for the great change which they are to undergo. Thus both kinds of caterpillars bury themselves alive, and seem quietly to wait the termination of their caterpillar state, as though they knew that, after a short period of repose, they should receive a new existence, and appear again in a much more brilliant form. Nothing in Nature bears so striking a resemblance to the death of the righteous and their resurrection, as the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. To the virtuous death is but a slumber, a repose after the pain and sorrows of this turbulent world; a moment in which they are deprived of motion and life, that they may again appear in a more glorious form, and enter upon a new state of existence. What is a caterpillar? A creeping, blind, and despised worm, which, while it crawls through life, is incessantly exposed to accidents and persecutions. And is the condition of man in the world much better? A caterpillar prepares with the greatest care for its transformation, and for that state of torpor upon which it is shortly to enter; so also doth the good man. Long before death arrives, he prepares himself for the change, and awaits with tranquil joy the moment which shall remove him into a better state. The apparent suspension of life in the caterpillar is not everlasting, but only the precursor of higher perfection. After its metamorphosis it appears one of the most beautiful of insects. Before, it crept upon the earth; now, by means of its wings, it can fly aloft into the air. Before, it was blind; now it is provided with excellent eyes, and enjoys a thousand agreeable sensations, to which it was hereto 3. Metamorphosis of caterpillars. fore a stranger. Before, it fed upon the coarse substance of the leaves; now, it sips the delicious nectar of the flowers, and lives in a perpetual round of pleasures. In all these respects I perceive the most striking resemblance to the death and resurrection of the pious. He dies that he may soon live again. His frail, earthly body will appear on the great day of resurrection, perfect, glorious, and resplendent. As a mortal man he was attached to the earth, and his mind was occupied with merely sensual objects and pursuits; but after he has put off mortality, his spirit soars among myriads of worlds, his more powerful vision embraces the whole extent of Nature, and he advances into the presence of the Deity himself. Before death, he was blind in the investigation of truth, but now his eye penetrates into its profoundest recesses. His body is spiritual, glorified, and totally different in its nature from that which he has relinquished; hence he is no longer a slave to base passions, or exposed to hunger and thirst. Other sensations now constitute his felicity; he revels in purer joys, and is regaled with celestial nourishment. If such, O Christian, be the bliss which awaits thee, and if thy present existence be nothing but a kind of caterpillar state, how important is the lesson which it inculcates. Since human life is so frail and fleeting, consider it not as thy final destination, and conduct not thyself, during this momentary existence, as though it were to last for ever. The silk-worm. JULY 3. THE SILK-WORM. The republic of caterpillars which are transformed into the two great classes of butterflies and moths, is divided into various families, each of which has its peculiar characters and properties. One of these families is distinguished by the appellation of the silk-worm., Like the other caterpillars it is composed of many moveable rings or joints. It is provided with feet and claws, that it may fix itself wherever it pleases. In its mouth it has two rows of teeth, which do not work up and down upon each other, as in man, but by a motion from right to left. With these the insect holds fast, cuts and tears the leaves. Along the whole length of the back we perceive through the skin a vessel which from time to time expands, and performs the functions of the heart. On each side it has nine orifices, which conduct to the same number of lungs, and promote the circulation of the juices. Under the mouth the silk-worm has a kind of reel, with two holes, through which it presses two drops of the fluid gum which fills its long intestinal canal: these are continually furnishing the material for spinning. The gum which distils through the two apertures takes the measure of its thickness from them, and is spun out into a double thread, which instantly acquires such consistency, that the worm may securely suspend, or at the proper time envelop itself with it. These two threads it presses together with its fore feet, and forms into one, which is not only extremely fine, but also very strong, and of astonishing length. Each cocoon is The silk-worm. composed of a thread, five hundred ells in length, and, as each thread is double, each of these bags must contain a thousand ells, though it weighs no more than two grains and a half.” The life of this insect in its vermiform state is very short, but it is nevertheless subject to various changes, which bring it gradually nearer to perfection. The worm, on leaving the egg, is extremely small, perfectly black, and the head of a still more brilliant black than the rest of the body. In a few days it changes to a light or ash color; his coat then becomes dirty and wrinkled. In about eight days, during which period he has grown to the length of a quarter of an inch, he is attacked with his first sickness, which consists in a kind of lethargic sleep, of three days' continuance. In this interval he refuses his food, and changes his skin, preserving the same bulk. His hue then becomes much paler, and greenish, from the color of his food. In a few more days, generally five, --though sometimes more and at others less, according to the temperature, food, and constitution of the worm, he again ceases to eat, passes two days in a lethargic state, winds and contorts himself with such force, that the whole body appears almost entirely red with the effort; the skin becomes wrinkled, and he casts it off a second time, together with the feet. Thus in the space of three weeks or a month, he is covered with a third coat. He again begins eating, and might then be taken for a dif ferent creature, so great is the alteration in his head, color, and whole appearance. After he has continued to eat for some days, the lethargy again overtakes him, at the expiration of which he changes his skin the third time. He then eats for a few |