18 



ELEMENTARY STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE 



active form before which we may stand, and, like 

 Tennyson to the flower, say: 



"If I could understand 

 What you are, root and all, and all in all, 

 I should know what God and man is." 



This interesting caterpillar, thus 

 far content to remain upon the plant 

 where its parent placed it, now grows 

 restless, leaves the seed-pods, descends 

 the flower-stalk, sometimes forsakes 

 t lie plant entirely. In any case it 

 choses some secluded spot on a lower 

 hranch of its food plant, the dead 

 limh of an adjoining tree, or a neigh- 

 boring fence-hoard, as a place for its 

 subsequent transformations. In the 

 vivarium they adapt themselves to 

 the circumstances. One we watched 

 chose the wire screen of a breeding- 

 cage, another the handle of a silver 

 cnp which held the food plant. In 

 nature, however, these caterpillars 

 seem to show a decided preference for 

 slanting objects when selecting a loca- 

 tion for pupation. 



The changes undergone by a cater- 

 pillar in passing from the larval to 

 the pupal stage have always excited 

 much interest and elicited the closest 

 attention of the observer. Words 

 to portray the transition. It must 



FIG. 19. Position of 

 caterpillar of black 

 swallowtail just before 

 pupation. Slightly en- 

 larged. Photographed 

 from life. 



are inadequate 



