264 tup: butterflies of kew England. 



beyond the opening, on which it may stand when ready to crawl in, and 

 upon which it may back out in the spring ; the whole of the inside and 

 the upper surface of the shelf are then plastered over with a dense coating 

 of brown silk and the flaps drawn together ; more than that, with strangest 

 oresight, the petiole of the leaf is thoroughly fastened to the stem by 

 numberless threads passed carefully and tightly around both ; into this 

 cylinder it then crawls head foremost, completely filling the cavity, closing 

 the bevelled hinder opening with the sloping tuberculate and sharpened 

 terminal segments, sure to find itself there when the long night of winter 

 is passed. No, not quite sure, for wasps or some otlier strong predaceous 

 insects will tear this fine castle open and destroy its single occupant. 

 Whether it is an additional safeguard or not, it is an instructive fact that, 

 at least where the winters are most severe, nearly all these hibernacula are 

 made out of leaves so near the ground that the snow covers them with its 

 warming mantle ; and what is more, in certain cases they so closely resem- 

 ble the winter buds and bursting leaves of the new year that they must 

 sometimes deceive their prowling foes of the early spring. 



Shortly after it ap])ears again in the si)ring and has fed on the tender 

 buds and just o[)ening leaves, it moults again, usually upon the shelf of 

 its hibernaculum, but no longer devours its skin, as it quits the immediate 

 neighborhood. It now changes its livery as well and is a most extraordi- 

 nary looking object, withal very conspicuous. Dark and light green and 

 cream color strive for the mastery and leave it streaked and blotched so 

 that it bears no inconsiderable resemblance, in color at least, to the drop- 

 pings of some birds, a circumstance which doubtless serves it as some sort 

 of protection. Its body is humped and the bosses bear tubercles which 

 give it a soraewliat repulsive aspect ; especially a pair a little behind the 

 head are raised aloft thickly studded with prominences, the effect of which 

 is heightened by the creature's habit of arching this part of the body, 

 bending its head to the ground and raising aloft its hinder part, also 

 studded with roughened processes. Altogether it is a rather hideous beast. 

 Then too, if disturbed, it raises the front half of its body from the ground 

 and uses it as a kind of whip-lash, throwing it to one side and the other 

 with great violence. When it walks, it moves with a slow and cautious 

 tread, its head trembling as if it had the palsy. All this is doubtless to 

 inspire fear to such enemies as might be tempted to attack it, but to how 

 much avail we can hardly tell. It is certainly attacked in considerable 

 numbers by a parasitic hymenopteron, the young of which live within on 

 the juices of the body and escape from the chrysalis when that is formed. 



The chrysalis, helpless thing, probably hangs quite exposed upon the 

 stem of the plant which has given the caterpillar nourishment. We know 

 it almost entirely from those raised in confinement. It has an oddly 

 shaped form, with a great projection on the back like a Roman nose, and 



