52 



Fig. 40. 



Colours — White, Black and Yellow. 



ofshowinn; how tlie Ion"; fleshy horns with which the mature caterpillar is furnished ara 

 conveniently coiled up while lying buried beneath the old skin. 



The full grown larva (Fig. 40) ii 

 about one and three quarter inches 

 long. Its head is yellowish, with a 

 triangular black stripe in front below, 

 and another of a similar shape above. 

 The upper surface of the body is 

 beautifully ornamented wUh transverse 

 stripes of black, yellow and white, the 

 white covering the greater part of each 

 segment, and having a wide black 

 stripe down the centre, while the yel- 

 low occupies the spaces between. On the third segment (reckoning the head as first) are two 

 long black fleshy horns, and on the twelfth two others of a similar character, but shorter, and 

 not quite so stout. 



The underside is black, with a greenish flesh-colour between most of the .segments. 

 The next change wh ch comes over this caterpillar is that which transforms it to a pupa 

 or cTirysalis, a most astonishing transformation, when the voracious larva becomes for a time 

 torpid, senseless, and almost motionless, while preparing for that change when it is to appear 

 in brilliant plumage and gracefully float and flutter through the air, enjoying the summer's 

 sunshine and sipping the nectar of flowers. Kirby in his "Introduction to Entomology" 

 says, "were a naturalist to announce to the world the discovery of an animul which for the 

 first five years of its life existed in the form of a serpent, which then penetrating into the 

 earth and weaving a shroud of pure silk of the finest texture, contracted itself within this 

 covering into a body without external mouth or limbs, and resembling more than anything 

 else an Egyptian mummy; and which, lastly, after remaining in tliis state without food and 

 without moti n for three years longer, should at the end of that period burst its silken 

 cerements, struggle through its earthly covering, and start into day a winged bird — what 

 think you would be the sensation excited by this strange piece of intelligence ? After tho 

 first doubts of its truth were dispelled, what astonishment would succeed 1 Amongst the 

 learned what surmises ! what investigations I Amongst the vulgar what eager curiosity and 

 amazement I All would be interested in the history of such an unheard-of phenomenon." 

 Yet the changes which the insect we are referring to undergoes in common with muny others, 

 is scarcely less wonderful or startling. 



In Fig. 41 the Inrva is represented 

 as it appears at dificrent perl ds during 

 its transition to the state of chrysalis. 

 At a it hangs suspended from a silken 

 web in which its hind legs are entangled, 

 and which has been previously attached 

 by the caterpillar to the underside of a 

 Iciif, or fence rail, or some other secure 

 place of retreat ; and here, while hanging 

 for about a d.iy, the larva contracts its 

 length and increases its bulk, es eciallj 

 on the anterior .segments. By and by a 

 rent takes place in the t-kiii down the back, and the chrysalis begins to appear, and afier long 

 and persevering efi'orts in stretching, contracting, and wriggling the body, the skin is crowded 

 bac'^wards and worked nearly up "to the hinder extremity, as shown at li .and now a diffi- 

 culty presents itself, and a feat has to be performed to imitate which would* puzzle the most 

 daring acrobat, for without hands or feet to hold on by, it has to withdraw itself from the 

 remnants of its larva skin, and hang itself up by a bhick protuberance crowned with a 

 bunch of hooks at the extremity of the chrysalis. Although this feat is so wonderfully 

 difficult, it is very seldom indeed that a failure occurs in its accomplishment. _ A re.idj 

 explanation of the means by which this is done is given at e, ( lig. 41. ) The joints of the 

 abdo.nen being freely moveable, are first stretched against a portion of the larva skm. and by 

 a sudden jerk backwards the skin is grasped and firmly held while the terminal segments are 



Fig 41. 



