ORDER IV. MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 



157 



wide, which is fastened securely to the twigs, and which is 

 so strons; that its outer „. „„ 



c 1 igure 06. 



coat can not be torn 

 with the fingers. The 

 inside of this outer 

 skin or covering is 

 thickly lined with soft 

 but strong brown silk, 

 which may be woven 

 and unwound like that 

 of any Silk-worm, and 

 surrounds a black, 

 shining chrysalis, from 

 which in due time the 

 Moth issues. 



Fig. 33 represents 

 the cocoon, and Fig. 

 34 its silk. 



These cocoons re- 

 main motionless on the 

 bushes until May or 

 June, and though oft- 

 en exposed in the open 

 air to a temperature as 

 low as 10° Fahr. they 

 are perfectly protect- 

 ed. Those which we 

 have raised in the house come out as early as April, be- 

 cause the warmth of the room develops them sooner. When 

 ready to emerge from its shell, the Moth throws out a caus- 

 tic liquid from its mouth, which destroys the fibres of silk 

 and enables it easily to pierce the upper end of its parch- 

 ment-like prison, from which it then creeps out with short, 

 damp antennae and wings, which by continual moving be- 

 come dry and enlarged to their natural size. 



Cocoon of the Cecropia. 



