METAMORPHOSES Otf BUTTERFLIES ANt) MOTHS 17 



can protrude a fleshy filament of a pink colour, and it 

 is supposed this peculiar apparatus is with the view of 

 driving away ichneumon- flies, to the attacks of which 

 these larvae are much exposed. The larva grows slowly 

 at first, but after the second moult it makes more rapid 

 progress, and when it is a little more than half-grown 

 it loses the ear- like appendages to the head, and is a 

 much less quaint-looking object than the younger larva. 

 When nearly full fed, it seems to lose the power of 

 protruding the caudal filaments. The full-grown larva 

 is more than two inches long, dark green, with a broad 

 purplish-brown blotch along the back, and reaching 

 partially down the sides. It then loses its fresh green 

 colour, and seems turning to a dull purple. This is a 

 sign it is ready for its change, and it proceeds to spin 

 its cocoon. Having powerful jaws, it bites off some 

 pieces of wood, and mixes a sort of wood-paste and silk 

 together in forming its cocoon, which is of a dark-brown 

 colour, and so hard that it is not easily cut with a 

 knife. Within this cocoon it changes to the pupa 

 state ; this probably happens towards the end of 

 August, and the pupa remains quiescent throughout 

 the winter and spring, till the month of May arrives. 

 Then the pupa skin cracks, and the moth, by the aid 

 of some solution which it discharges, softens the end of 

 the cocoon, and, pushing itself forward, makes its 

 escape, and, crawling up the trunk of the tree, proceeds 

 to expand and dry its wings. The perfect insect may 

 often be noticed in the daytime sitting on palings or 

 trunks of trees. 



Let us next consider the transformations of the 

 Figure-of-Eight Moth (Diloba czeruleocephala'). The 

 parent moth deposits her eggs at the end of September 



c 



