A CHANCE ACQUAINTANCE. 5 



the Stem of a leaf. The extremity of the bod}^ was at- 

 tached also to the [branch of the bush] twig. 



Two days later, Oct. 8, about 9 o'clock in the morning, 

 we watched the old coat slipped off the suspended crea- 

 ture ; a process attended by evident great exertion. The 

 old coat split first at the back, near the head, and was fol- 

 lowed by stretching of the body and further breaking 

 apart of the old garment, which soon was wrinkled in 

 tighter and tighter folds, until the whole body was outside 

 of it. Such twisting and turning and pulling and stretch- 

 ing was painful to witness. Drops like perspiration stood 

 all over the body, until the covering, with their disappear- 

 ance, hardened. 



This secretion probably acted as a lubricant, but it all 

 added to the appearance, that changing the fashion of 

 one's garments in the insect world is harder work for the 

 subject than a visit t(3 the dressmaker or tailor in ours, and 

 was not favorable to the wish often heard expressed that 

 our garments might grow with the wearer and save buy- 

 ing and mending. 



The chrysalis looked like a dried leaf — an illustration 

 to the end of Nature's ability to protect her children 

 through imitation. The color was yellowish brown, dark- 

 er on the ridge along the back, which looked like the mid- 

 rib of a rolled leaf. 



Two of the other caterpillars passed through all the 

 stages described. About 9 o'clock in the morning of Oct. 

 17, occurred the final change of Number Two, which re- 

 sulted in a much smaller chrysalis than the first one. The 

 natural inference was that this was due to less nourish- 

 ment and the confinement, but a different theory might be 

 substituted, for, on .May 27, 1903, there was in or on my 

 box a peculiar-looking fly, later identified as an ichneu- 

 mon, and after investigation the smaller chrysalis was 



