The Mississippi Creole. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1841-1851, 1850-08-03

alton, and yet nothing is more cireumscrbod
than the law which governs the animal and
vegetable kingdoms 1t is a general law Of
nature, obtaining in both these kingdoms, that,
in order to perpetuOte the species, each indi-
vidual or pair Of individuals are SO constituted,
that bysA union of their powers, respectively,
progeny is produced FACTORS Journal.
But t&Aeturn to the point from which l de
crossed: The butterfly is infallible. Led by
an instinct unerring, she recognizes a fit plant
for a indus, the moment she approaches it, and
upon this she makes her deposit; yet not with
out the further precau ion Of ascertaining that
it is not pre-occupied by the eggs Of SOM other
fly. Having fulfilled this, her last duty,Ahe
afectionate mother dies. The eggs are hatched
in three or four days after they are laid, and
the boil. caterpillars (worm is a misnomer, and
altogether q different %animal,) produced from
them attain their full size, according to tho best
of my observation, in some fifteen or twenty
days; quit the plantyi its appointed work being
done, (for it is now a full grown caterpillar);
passes into the pupa, or into an intermediate
state Of seeming death, encased in a chrysalis
buried under the earth, and after it has remain
ed its destined time, which is from rs to f8
days, lin midsummer) in this deathtlike state,
it at length assumes the imago-they burst
from their sepulchris with new powers and
beauty, and come forth as a bride from her
chamber:
The butterfly, on piniOns bright,
Launched in full splendor on the day.
Her slender fNn, ethereal light,
Her velvet-te%tured wings enfold,
With all The ralnbow's COlots bright,
And dropt with spots Of FURNISHED gold."
Butterflies, indeed, appear to have been NATURES
%lavorite productions; (of course l except her
whose name is lOveO in which to manifest her
greatest skill, and to which she has given by
far the most delicate touch and highest finish
Of her pencil. We now view them arrayed in
their 'nuptial glory, ana as their food is the
nectar Of flowers, they may be seen in their
aerial excursions in the evening twilight, tra>
versing the fields Of cotton; and as it is in this
last state that it performs the functions neSces.
sary for the continuation Of its species, they
may be seen one while lowering over tie plant
Just long enough to make a deposit Of two or
three eggs, and then, the very personifcation
of ickleness, flying 10 another. With Us, it
passes through two generations, If no more:
much, however, will depend ON the season. II
hybernates in the pupa state, buried beneath
the earth, without receiving any injury from
the frost, however cold II may be; and in the
spring, or as soon as the weather becomes hot
erotgh, itis transformed into a ny. The larva
of many Of the lepldoptera order are %polypha-
gous, and amongst others, the boll>caterpillar.
Consequently, those numerous and respectable
planters who contend that it feeds alone upon
the cotton plant, are mistaken. This explana-
tion'strips the subject of everything miraculous
See, however, DR.. Harris, Kirby and Spence,
or any other writer on the lr~ansformartohs Of.
insects.
Notwithstanding The transformations Of in
sects have lost much Of the marvellous, and
been stripped Of every thing mysterious, which
might once have furnished arg uments for the
Egyptian fable of Cupid and Psvche; yet by
no means reduces it to an nninteretting study.
To use the beautiful language Of the poet:
Shall the poor worm that shocks thy sight,
The humblest form in natures train,
Thus rise in newborn lustre bright,
And yet the emblem touch in vain?
Kirby and SDence, speaking of the metamnor-
phosis of insects, uses these eloquent words:
g Who that witnesses this interesting scene
can help seeing in it a lively representation Of
man in his threefold state of existence, and
more especially of that happy day, when, at
the call OF the great Son Of Righteousness, all
that are in the grave shall come forth, the sea
shall give uD her dead, and death being swal>
lowed up of life, the nations Of the blessed
shall live and love to the ages Of eternity"
Yours, &c. A CLEANER.
ITO be ~cbhtinued.
CANTON FEMALE ACADEMY,
The undersigned committee appointed by
n L-.- Il sl-...a..-A II -. - n N