220 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



as may be imagined, is far from a secure kind of 

 fastening. How is it to disengage itself from its 

 case, and be suspended in the air while it climbs up 

 to take its place ? Without arms or legs to support 

 itself, the anxious spectator expects to see it fall 

 to the earth. His fears, however, are groundless ; 

 the supple segments of the pupa's abdomen serve 

 in the place of arms. Between two of these, as 

 with a pair of pincers, it seizes on a portion of 

 the skin; and, bending its body once more, entirely 

 extricates its tail from it. It is now wholly out 

 of the skin, against one side of which it is sup- 

 ported, but yet at some distance from the leaf; 

 the next step it must take is, to climb up to the 

 required height. For this purpose it repeats the 

 same ingenious manoeuvre: making its cast skin 

 serve as a sort of ladder, it successively, with its 

 different segments, seizes a higher and a higher 

 portion, until in the end it reaches the summit, 

 where with its tail it feels for the silken threads 

 that are to support it. The tail is provided 

 with a number of minute hooks which catch in 

 the meshes of the silken button, and the pupa, 

 thrusting it into the meshes of this button, feels 

 quite secure as to the result, and drops safely into 



