CHAPTER LXVI.

1292. _Why does the caterpillar become torpid when passing into the state of the chrysalis?_

Because in all probability, where the difference between the first and the ultimate form is considerable, the organs of the insect having to undergo great changes, it would suffer considerable pain. Torpor comes upon the insect, it is thrown into a state similar to that of a person who has inhaled chloroform; and after what has, in all probability, proved a pleasant dream, the insect awakes to find itself changed and beautified.

1293. _Why are the pupæ of grasshoppers and other insects, when about to undergo transformation, still active and sensitive?_

Because, as there is but a _slight difference_ between the form which they have in the pupa state, and that which they ultimately assume, they do not require the state of torpidity to save them from pain, nor to arrest their movements while their organs are being changed. With them _the outer skin is thrown off_, and they are then perfect insects.

1294. _Why do caterpillars, when about to pass through the chrysalis state, attach themselves to the leaves of plants, &c.?_

Because they know instinctively that for a time they will be _unable to controul their own movements, and to avoid danger_. They therefore choose secure and dry places, underneath leaves, or in the crevices of old and dry walls, and there they firmly attach themselves, to await the time of their liberation.

1295. _Why do insects attach their eggs, to leaves &c.?_

Because, as the eggs have to be preserved during the winter, the insect attaches them to some surface which will be a _protection to them_. Generally speaking, the eggs are attached to the permanent stems of plants, and not to those leafy portions which are liable to fall and decay. The spider _weaves a silken bag_ in which it deposits its eggs, and then it hangs the bag in a sheltered situation. Nature keeps her butterflies, moths, and caterpillars, locked up during the winter, in their egg-state; and we have to admire the various devices to which, if we may so speak, the same nature has resorted for the _security_ of the egg. Many insects enclose their eggs in a silken web; others cover them with a coat of hair, torn from their own bodies; some glue them together; and others, like the moth of the silk-worm, glue them to the leaves upon which they are deposited, that they may not be shaken off by the wind, or washed away by rain; some again make incisions into leaves, and hide an egg in each incision; whilst some envelope their eggs with a soft substance, which forms the first aliment of the young animal; and some again make a hole in the earth, and, having stored it with a quantity of proper food, deposit their eggs in it.

[Verse: "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal."--MATT. VI.]

1296. _Why do butterflies fly by day?_

Because they are _organised to enjoy light and warmth_, and they live upon the sweets of flowers which by day are most accessible.

1297. _Why do moths fly by night?_

Because they are _organised to enjoy subdued light_ and cool air; and as they take very little food during the short life they have in the winged state, they find sufficient by night. Some of the moths, like that of the silk-worm, take no food from the time they escape from the chrysalis until they die.

Because, also, they form the food of bats, owls, and other of the night-flying tribes.

1298. _Why are the bodies of moths generally covered with a very thick down?_

Because, as they fly by night, they are liable to the effects of cold and damp. The moths, therefore, are nearly all of them covered with a very thick down, quite distinguishable from the lighter down of butterflies.

1299. _Why do moths fly against the candle flame?_

Because their eyes are organised _to bear only a small amount of light_. When, therefore, they come within the light of a candle, their sight is overpowered and their vision confused; and as they cannot distinguish objects, they pursue the light itself, and fly against the flame.

[Verse: "Let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord."--JER. IX.]

1300. _Why do insects multiply so numerously?_

Because they form the food of larger animals, and especially of birds. A single pair of sparrows and a nest of young ones have been estimated to consume upwards of _three thousand_ insects in a week.

1301. _Why does the "death-watch" make a ticking noise?_

Because the insect is one of the beetle tribe, having a horny case upon its head, _with which it taps upon any hard substance_, the ticking is the call of the insect to its species, just as the noise made by the cricket is a note of communication with other crickets.

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.