The Life-History and Anatomy of Moths 
under the soil escape is made by means of the power possessed 
by the abdominal somites, or rings, of moving with a sort of 
spiral twist. The pupa “wriggles” itself upward through the 
soil until it reaches the surface, following in its course the line of 
least resistance, which is generally the line through which the 
larva burrowed downward to its hiding place. In this movement 
the pupae are often aided by spinous projections at the lower edge 
of the somites which prevent backward motion. When emer¬ 
gence from a cocoon occurs, the insect is provided with the power 
of ejecting from its mouth a fluid, which has the property of 
dissolving and cutting the silken threads. When the moth first 
emerges from the pupa its wings are soft and flabby and its body 
is long and vermiform. The first act is to secure a quiet resting 
place. The fluids of the body are in the process of circulation 
rapidly absorbed from the abdominal region, and, pressing out¬ 
ward under the action of the heart, cause the wings to expand 
and assume their normal form and the other parts to acquire 
adjustment. There is no more interesting spectacle than to 
witness the rapid development of a moth from its apparently 
helpless condition at emergence from the pupal stage into an 
insect strong of wing and often gloriously beautiful in color. 
THE ANATOMY OF MOTHS 
The body of all lepidoptera consists of three subdivisions, the 
head, the thorax, and the abdomen. The head bears the princi¬ 
pal organs of sense and of nutrition, the thorax those of locomo¬ 
tion, and the abdomen those of generation and in large part those 
of assimilation, respiration, and circulation. 
The reader who desires to ascertain the names and the func¬ 
tion of the various organs of the body of moths may consult in 
this connection the corresponding portion of the “ Butterfly 
Book,” in which the principal facts have been fully set forth as to 
the diurnal lepidoptera. The anatomy of moths does not radically 
differ in its main outlines from that of the Rhopalocera. The 
same names are applied to the parts, and the differences which 
occur are not so much differences in function as in outline. 
In studying the head of moths we find that as a rule the 
head is not as prominent as is the case in butterflies. It is 
more retracted, as a rule, though in the case of some families, 
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