33 



body. It is "neck or nothing" at this moment, and not infre- 

 quently the insect's strength gives out before the cremastral hooks 

 have caught hold of the silken strands, and down it falls, a little 

 mangled heap of creamy jelly with all the life crushed out of it. 



Exhausted though the pupa must be, it has yet one further task 

 to perform, and that is to detach the now useless larval skin from 

 its connection with the silken mat. 



The soft and sensitive body of the immature pupa finds contact 

 with the larval skin extremely irritating. 



It whirls round first in one direction, then in the other, violently 

 contorting its body, and all the time, little by little, it breaks the 

 silken threads that hold the offending skin, and at last succeeds in 

 causing it to fall to the ground. This process frequently occupies 

 several hours, and when, as on some occasions, I have removed 

 with my forceps the offending empty skin, the pupa immediately 

 ceased its gyrations, and was at last able to enjoy well-earned and 

 much needed repose. 



A short exposure to the air of the moist surface of the newly 

 transformed pupa is sufficient to harden the gluey surface ; the 

 finger-like processes now lie flatly pressed upon the body and on 

 drying become soldered to it, the gluey exterior hardening into the 

 pupal integument from which the imago subsequently emerges. 



