274 



INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



a. Caterpillar of Vanessa Antiopa weaving its button of silk. 

 b, suspended by its hinder pro-legs from the silk button, c, bend- 

 ing in order to split the old skin. 



which is thickly interlaced and strong, it turns round 

 to examine it with its hinder pair of pro-legs ; and if 

 it judges it to be sufficiently firm, it thrusts these 

 among the meshes, taking secure hold with the nu- 

 merous hooks with which these are fringed,* and 

 swings itself fearlessly into the air, hanging with its 

 head downwards. All this seems easy enough of 

 performance, but it is only preliminary ; for it has 

 still to throw off its skin, together with the hooks by 

 which it is suspended, and this without losing its 

 hold. The old skin is rent by the forcible bending 

 round of the upper part of the body, which pushes 

 through some of the angular projections of the chry- 

 salis — a tedious and probably a painful operation, in 

 * See Insect Architecture, p. 307, right hand figure. 



