THE CATERPILLAR. 6? 



unfolding. From reaching scarcely half the 

 length of the body, they acquire, in a most won- 

 derful manner, their full extent and bigness, so 

 as to be each five times larger than they were be- 

 fore. Nor is it the wings alone that are thus in- 

 creased ; all their spots and paintings, before so 

 minute as to be scarcely discernible, are propor- 

 tionably extended ; so that, what a few minutes 

 before seemed only a number of confused, un- 

 meaning points, now become distinct and most 

 beautiful ornaments. Nor are the wings, when 

 they are thus expanded, unfolded in the manner 

 in which earwigs and grasshoppers display theirs, 

 who unfurl them like a lady's fan ; on the con- 

 trary, those of butterflies actually grow to their 

 natural size in this very short space. The wing, 

 at the instant it is freed from its late confinement, 

 is considerably thicker than afterwards ; so that 

 it spreads in all its dimensions, growing thinner 

 as it becomes broader. If one of the wings be 

 plucked from the animal just set free, it may be 

 spread by the fingers, and it will soon become as 

 broad as the other which has been left behind. 

 As the wings extend themselves so suddenly, 

 they have not yet had time to dry, and accord- 

 ingly appear like pieces of wet paper, soft and 

 full of wrinkles. In about half an hour they are 

 perfectly dry, their wrinkles entirely disappear, 

 and the little animal assumes all its splendour. 

 The transmutation being thus perfectly finished, 

 the butterfly discharges three or four drops of a 

 blood-coloured liquid, which are the last remains 

 of its superfluous moisture. Those aurelias which 



