METAMORPHOSIS n.
a series of marked changes of external form, as the chrysalis stage, pupa stage, etc., in insects. In these intermediate stages sexual reproduction is usually impossible, but they ultimately pass into final and sexually developed forms, from the union of which organisms are produced which pass through the same cycle of…
MUD n.
of the United States. -- Mud wasp (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of hymenopterous insects belonging to Pepæus, and allied genera, which construct groups of mud cells, attached, side by side, to stones or to the woodwork of buildings, etc. The female places an egg in each cell, together with spiders or other ins…