33 2 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



himself a box only a few inches longer, wider and thicker than himself. 

 After the cocoon is entirely finished, the caterpillar sheds its skin for 

 the last time and changes into a pupa. 



Very different, indeed, does the pupa look from the brilliant colored, 

 warty caterpillar. It is compact, brown, oval and smooth, with ability 

 to move but very little when disturbed. The cases which contain the 

 wings, which are later to be the objects of our admiration, are now folded 

 down like a tight cape around the body; and the antennae, like great 

 feathers, are outlined just in front of the wing cases. There is nothing 

 more wonderful in all nature than the changes which are worked within 

 one of these little, brown pupa cases; for within it, processes go on which 

 change the creature from a crawler among the leaves to a winged inhabi- 

 tant of the air. 

 When we see how 

 helpless this pupa 

 is, we can under- 

 stand better how 

 much the strong 

 silken cocoon is 

 needed for protec- 

 tion from ene- 

 mies, as well as 

 from inclement 

 weather. 



In spring, 

 usually in May, 

 after the leaves 

 are well out on 

 the trees, the 

 pupa skin is shed 

 in its turn, and 

 Cecropia caterpillar weaving its cocoon. out of it comes 



Photo by M. V. Slingerland. the Wet and 



wrinkled moth, its wings all crumpled, its furry, soft body very 



untidy; but it is only because of this soft and crumpled state that it 



is able to push its way out through the narrow door into the outer 



world. It has, on each side of its body just back of the head, two 



little horny hooks that help it to work its way out. It is certainly a 



sorry object as it issues, looking as if it had been dipped in water and 



had been squeezed in an inconsiderate hand. But the wet wings soon 



spread, the bright antennas stretch out, the furry body becomes 



dry and fluffy, and the large moth appears in all its perfection. The 



ground color of the wings is a dusky, grayish brown while the outer 



margins are clay colored; the wings are crossed, beyond the middle, 



by a white band which has a broad outside margin of red. There 



is a red spot near the apex of the front wing, just outside of the 



zigzag white line; each wing bears, near its center, a crescent-shaped 



white spot bordered with red. But though it is so large, it does 



not need to eat; the caterpillar did all the eating that was necessary 



for the whole life of the insect; the mouth of the moth is not 



sufficiently perfected to take food. 



When the cecropia caterpillar hatches from the egg, it is about a 

 quarter of an inch long and is black; each segment is ornamented 



