The Life of the Caterpillar 



earthy-yellow sausage; and this horror, worse 

 than a maggot, is a Moth in the full bloom 

 of life, a genuine adult Moth. She is the 

 betrothed of the elegant black Bombyx, all 

 plumed with Marabou-feathers, and repre- 

 sents to him the last word in beauty. As the 

 proverb says, beauty lies in lovers' eyes : a 

 profound truth which the Psyche confirms in 

 striking fashion. 



Let us describe the ugly little sausage. A 

 very small head, a paltry globule, disap- 

 pearing almost entirely in the folds of the first 

 segment. What need is there of cranium and 

 brains for a germ-bag! And so the tiny crea- 

 ture almost does without them, reduces them 

 to the simplest expression. Nevertheless, 

 there are two black ocular specks. Do these 

 vestigial eyes see their way about? Not very 

 clearly, we may be sure. The pleasures of 

 light must be very small for this stay-at-home, 

 who appears at her window only on rare 

 occasions, when the male Moth is late in 

 arriving. 



The legs are well-shaped, but so short and 

 weak that they are of no use at all for loco- 

 motion. The whole body is a pale yellow, 

 semitransparent in front, opaque and stuffed 



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