PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 53 



But it is a remarkable fact amongst many others of a 

 like sort that whilst the larva of the goat moth, Cossus 

 lipniperda, does not come to maturity for three years, 

 the pupa hibernates only for a few weeks. I may say 

 that owing to its size and perhaps also to the nature of its 

 food, it afforded Lyonnct an excellent subject for his 

 anatomical researches. 



It by no means follows that during the j)rocess of 

 hibernation the imago, or perfect insect, will become in 

 time as handsome as the larva, or vice versa. E.g.: the 

 caterpillar of the peacock butterfly, Vanessa io, one of the 

 most beautiful of our country, is black spotted wdth white, 

 with hind legs red, and feeds on the common stinging-nettle. 

 The pupa is greenish and dotted with gold, whence the term 

 Aurelia or Chrysalis. Such is the larva, and such the 

 pupa. What is the imago ? The caterpillar, I mav say, 

 is al)Out two inches in length when fully grown. After 

 hibernation, it sees again the full light of day. It can 

 breathe freely, it can with its thousands of eyes look the 

 sun in the face, it can with its delicately-feathered pinions 

 float on the air, it can chase its fellows in a seeminglv 

 endless dance, it can direct its course from one flower to 

 another, sipping here and there the nectar which has been 

 provided for it. What a marvellous, and be it noted so 

 far as we know a continuous work is going on during that 

 period ! Indeed some might almost be disposed to say, 

 "all things are become new." In a sense it is so, but not 

 l)y a new creation, but by an evolution and development 

 of that which previously existed. It is by no means 

 impossible, and some have asserted it to be the fact that 

 the future form, I do not know a better word, of the 

 perfect insect may be found in the caterpillar. It is 

 certainly I think not beyond the range of possibility for 

 this reason. The caterpillar feeds on those substances 

 which will by the laws of the natural world supply it with 

 such juices as will in its perfected state result in and 



