The Life of the Caterpillar 



in his adult shape, the Psyche whose scab- 

 bard is continued underneath by a long, naked 

 vestibule. Most of the cases are fastened by 

 a silk pad to the trelliswork of the cage and 

 hang vertically, like stalactites. Some few of 

 them have never left the ground. Half im- 

 mersed in the sand, they stand erect, with their 

 rear in the air and their fore-part buried and 

 firmly anchored to the side of the pan by 

 means of a silky paste. 



This inverted position excludes any idea of 

 weight as a guide in the caterpillar's prepara- 

 tions. An adept at turning round in his 

 cabin, he is careful, before he sinks into the 

 immobility of pupadom, to turn his head now 

 upwards, now downwards, towards the open- 

 ing, so that the adult insect, which is much 

 less free than the larva in its movements, may 

 reach the outside without obstacle. 



Moreover, it is the pupa itself, the un- 

 bending chrysalis, incapable of turning and 

 obliged to move all in one piece, which, stub- 

 bornly crawling, carries the male to the 

 threshold of the case. It emerges half way 

 at the end of the uncovered silky vestibule 

 and there breaks, obstructing the opening 

 with its slough as it does so. For a time the 

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