LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD. 57 



seen until the caterpillar is nearly prepared for 

 its chrysalis state. 



Harriet. Do they cut the caterpillar open to 

 see this, Aunt Mary ? 



rfunt M. The caterpillar is killed and put 

 into boiling water, when the outer skin can be 

 peeled off, and the butterfly, with its wings 

 folded closely to its body, and enclosed in seve- 

 ral thin skins, or membranes, may be distinctly 

 seen. 



I do not want to tire you by repeating any- 

 thing I have already said ; but as the changes of 

 insects are most conveniently seen in the butter- 

 fly and moth tribe, I should like to give you a 

 more particular description of them. 



Although, as I have told you, the butterfly 

 lives entirely upon the sweet fluid contained in 

 flowers, the caterpillar, requiring more substan- 

 tial nourishment, eats the leaves and bads of 

 plants ; and directed by that wonderful faculty 

 which the Creator has bestowed in a superior 

 degree upon the lower animals, and which we 

 call instinct, the butterfly never fails to place 

 her eggs upon those plants upon which the fu- 

 ture caterpillar is to feed ; and although the va- 

 6 



