Metamorphosis Is a Way of Life

Most forms of animal life go through some degree of metamorphosis, or change in form. This is even seen in mankind, for babies do not look like “little men” or “little women” (despite such fond expressions by proud parents as, “That’s my little man!”). Nor do the elderly look the way they did 40 years ago.

In fact, in only a few simple life forms, such as silverfish and springtails, is there no change at all except in size as the creature matures. On the other hand, the metamorphism of some animals is so radical that analysts have experienced great difficulty in being certain some immature forms are actually related to mature species.

The sea-going larvae of some types of eels, for instance, are so unlike their parents that zoologists for many years believed they were totally unrelated species. The experts were left groping because they had no opportunity to see the transformation taking place. Anyone who is familiar with the transformation of a tadpole into a frog can understand the zoologists’ problem, for if we could not observe the intermediate steps we would be likely to make the same mistake.

For one thing, the larval stage may live in a totally different environment from the adults. The tadpole, for example, lives in the water, uses gills to extract oxygen from the water, and eats aquatic plants. Adult frogs, however, live on land, breathe air, and eat insects.

Thus we can generalize that land-dwelling adults (such as frogs) may have aquatic larvae; flying adults (houseflies, for instance) may have burrowing larvae; and sedentary adults (such as sponges and oysters) may—and usually do—have free-swimming larvae.

In some cases, metamorphosis occurs in a series of small changes, often called molts. But the most dramatic transformations undoubtedly occur among certain insects, in which sweeping changes take place in just one step. We think, for instance, of the lowly caterpillar, which is transformed into a beautiful butterfly.

What actually happens in such a transformation?

Outwardly, we can see that the typical caterpillar spins itself a chrysalis or a silken cocoon and appears to go into a long sleep. However, during this time of immobility, mighty processes are under way. Large parts of the larva’s body disintegrate and then reform into totally different structures. The larva possessed a soft body, without any skeleton at all; the adult insect will be sheathed in a hard external skeleton. The larva crawled or hunched its way along; the adult will spread its wings and fly. All this is possible because of a grand “reshuffling” of the creature’s organic cells. In many cases, groups of cells have been held in reserve in the larval state, unused by the grub but coming into their own in the transition.

As the work of tearing down and rebuilding progresses, internal organs are reorganized, even as legs and wings begin to form. In many cases the entire nervous system is rebuilt, as are the circulatory and digestive systems. In the end, only the outer skin of the grub remains, and it is a dry husk about to be left behind.

At last the transformation is complete. The husk splits and the butterfly (for instance) emerges. It spreads apart the limp folds of its wings, and as fluid courses through the tiny passages, the wings take their final form and then harden in the air. A thing of rare beauty has been created out of the lowliest of materials!

That this is a marvel, none can deny. Some would say that the various stages of metamorphic life evolved in order to ensure the survival of the various species. I disagree. It is true that the larva is well-adapted to its environment, just as the adult is to its own environment. But it should be obvious that there is no room at all for gradual evolution. The caterpillar could never have taken thought and said to itself: “I think I’ll change into a butterfly.” Nor could such changes have taken place without thought. Recall that the creature loses all of its old ability to move, to feed, to protect itself. For weeks or months it is utterly helpless. Then it bursts forth into new life that could not possibly be the result of small incremental changes.

The truth is that the change was not without thought. It is the product of a mind so vast, so all-encompassing, that it truly knows all. This is one of the attributes of our all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present God.

He is also a merciful, loving God who wishes to work just such a transformation in us as He does in the butterfly grub. He yearns to make something beautiful out of us.

To do this requires just as radical a reorganization within us, on the spiritual level, as transpires within that grub’s cocoon. And our radical metamorphosis begins, very appropriately, with what the Bible describes as spiritual rebirth (John 3:1-8). We must begin at the beginning with God, and let Him work His wonders within us. All praise to His Name!

The Old Scot (Ted Kyle) lives in Newberg, Oregon, with his wife Marga.

Sources:
“Bee Castes and Division of Labor” in American Social Insects, by Charles D. and Mary H. Michener, Van Nostrand Co., NY, 1951, p. 110.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 15^th Ed., Vols. 1:898; 5:640; 9:611; 13:508; 14:849; and 18:1085-1086.