ysalis we are able to make out, through the thin
envelope, all the external organs of the body stowed away in the most
orderly and compact manner. The antennae are very conspicuous, folded down
alongside of the legs; and precisely in the centre will be seen the tongue,
unrolled and forming a straight line between the legs. The unexpanded wings
are visible on each side--very small, but with all their veinings
distinctly seen; and the breathing holes, called spiracles, are placed in a
row on each side of the body.

The duration of the chrysalis stage, like that of the egg, is extremely
variable, and dependent on difference of temperature. As an instance of
this, one of our common butterflies has been known to pass only seven {15}
or eight days in the chrysalis state; this would be in the heat of summer.
Then, in the spring, the change occupies a fortnight; but when the
caterpillar enters the chrysalis state in the autumn, the butterfly does
not make its appearance till the following spring. Furthermore, it has been
proved by experiment, that if the condition of perpetual winter be kept up
by keeping the chrysalis in an icehouse, its development may be retarded
for two or three years beyond its proper time; while, on the other hand, if
in the middle of winter the chrysalis be removed to a hothouse, the
enclosed butterfly, mistaking the vivifying warmth for returning summer,
makes its _debut_ in ten days or a fortnight.

* * * * *

{16}

CHAPTER II.

"COMING OUT"--ICHNEUMONS--THE BUTTERFLY PERFECTED--ITS
WINGS--LEPIDOPTERA--MEANING OF THE WORD--MICROSCOPIC VIEW--NEW
BEAUTIES--MAGNIFIED "DUST"--THE HEAD AND ITS ORGANS--THE TONGUE--THE
EYES--THE ANTENNAE--THEIR USES--INSECT CLAIRVOYANCE--AN UNKNOWN
SENSE--FORMS OF ANTENNAE--THE LEGS.

We now arrive at the last stage, the consummation of all this strange
series of transformations; for veritable transformations they are to all
intents and purposes; though some learned naturalists have discovered--or
imagined so--that the butterfly, in all its parts, really lies hid under
the caterpillar's skin, and can be distinguished under microscopical
dissection; and that, therefore, the so-called transformations are merely
the throwing off of the various envelopes or husks, as they become in turn
superfluous, as a mountebank strips off garment after garment, till lastly
the sparkling harlequin is discovered to view; or, in more exa