26 SILKWORMS. 



it sprang, so that it finds in the cocoon which was a tight fit for 

 the worm that formed it, more than enough room for the accommo- 

 dation of its altered bulk. It has no legs and no mouth, so that 

 it is unable either to walk or to eat. Its only power of movement 

 is to twist about the hinder parts of its body slightly. Imme- 

 diately after its exclusion from the caterpillar skin it is pale 

 yellowish white and soft, but it soon hardens and becomes darker, 

 till at length it assumes a reddish brown colour. Two divisions 

 can be easily recognised in its body. There is first the anterior 

 half, on which one can trace, more or less distinctly, the outlines 

 of the fore part of the moth which is ultimately to issue from it, 

 the forms of its eyes, antennae, wings, and legs being traceable ; 

 these latter are all bent down side by side towards the under 

 surface of the body. These are, however, as yet but prophecies, 

 merely the outward indications of what is ultimately to be found 

 within ; there are no such things as antennae, legs, and wings now, 

 and these markings on the pupa skin are, as it were, only the 

 outside of the moulds in which they are to be cast. The posterior 

 half consists of a series of distinct rings, which lessen in size as 

 they approach the end of the body ; these correspond to the 

 abdomen, or body, of the adult insect. 



The papa is perfectly helpless, it has no power of self-defence, and, 

 indeed scarcely seems alive ; and, if it were in the wild condition 

 would, but for the cocoon in which it has taken the precaution to 

 enwrap itself, easily fall a prey to any one of the myriad enemies 

 that would be continually seeking its life. The outward quiescence 

 is, however, no criterion of the state of affairs within ; there all 

 is activity and rapid change ; out of the soft and almost fluid 

 contents of this mummy there is to be fashioned, in a little more 

 than a fortnight, a full-fledged moth, a winged creature, not only 

 totally unlike either caterpillar or chrysalis in appearance, but 

 possessing a very important power which they did not, viz., 

 that of reproducing its kind. This is the explanation of that 

 otherwise inexplicable phenomenon, the insatiable appetite which 

 is characteristic of the final age of the caterpillar ; it was then 

 taking in supplies destined to become a store of force, to be 

 drawn upon during this period of seclusion and outward inactivity, 

 for the formation of the winged form which represents the final 

 stage in the insect's life. 



When the time arrives for the emergence of the moth from its 

 pupa case, the latter, through pressure from within, splits down 

 the back and along the sides of the wing covers, and the anterior 

 part thus divides into several pieces, and allows the inclosed 

 insect pretty easily to wriggle out. On getting clear, it is seen 



