METAMORPHOSES OP BUTTERFLIES AKD MOTHS 15 



escape, and proceeds to expand and dry its wings. La 

 the evening it takes flight, and with its large, strong 

 wings and powerful muscles is able to fly with extreme 

 speed ; it hovers over flowers, from which, with its long 

 tongue, it extracts the sweets, and then darts away 

 almost with the velocity of light, to hover again over 

 other flowers. 



Now let us turn to the transformation of one of the 

 smaller Clear-winged Hawk-moths (Trochilium culiei- 

 forme). The parent moth deposits her eggs in June in 

 the stumps of felled birches, or in growing birch-trees. 

 From these eggs are hatched small whitish larvae, which 

 feed in the bark and in the wood of the birch. These 

 larvae grow very slowly, and continuing in the larva 

 state all through the winter, are not full fed till the 

 following spring. Towards the end of April the larva 

 constructs a cocoon near the opening of its burrow in 

 the birch stem, and changes therein to the pupa state ; 

 and about the middle of May, if we have warm weather, 

 the pupa protrudes its anterior half through the end of 

 the cocoon, and the skin cracking, the perfect insect 

 makes its escape, and proceeds to expand and dry its 

 wings. In a short time it takes flight, and delights to 

 bask on flowers in the hottest sunshine, ever and anon 

 flying swiftly away to a different spot. 



We will now consider the transformations of a larger 

 wood-boring insect (Cossus ligitiperda), the Goat Moth. 

 The parent moth deposits her eggs in July, in crevices 

 in the trunks of willows, oaks, and other trees. In a 

 short time these eggs hatch, and the larvae proceed to 

 eat the wood of the tree, forming large excavations in 

 the substance of the trunk. These larvae grow slowly, 

 and it is reputed to pass at least two winters in the 



