THE CHRYSALIS. 



35 



all other support, and hangs by the tail [Pig. 48]. 

 It next curves the front part of its body upward on 

 the ventral side, and after a time, when the front 

 part of the body has become greatly swollen by 

 the descent of the body fluids, a rent is produced 



PIG. 43. Danais Plexippns, changing from caterpillar to chrysalis ; a, cater- 

 pillar just before the rending of the !<kin ; 6, chrysalis just before the cremaster 

 is withdrawn; c, chrysalis just after withdrawal of the cremaster (the last is a 

 little inaccurate) compare the form of the chrysalis with that it finally as- 

 sumes, Fig. 61 (Riley). 



in the back of the caterpillar, and the chrysalis 

 gradually protrudes ; not as it will afterward 

 appear, but a limp, soft, and rather shapeless 

 mass. It now hangs at full length, and the thin 

 integument of the caterpillar, by the mere 

 shrinkage which necessarily follows its drying, 

 creeps back toward the button of silk to which 

 it is attached ; ligamentary elastic membranes, 

 which protrude from the anal and tracheal open- 

 ings at the extremity of the body, keep the chrys- 

 alis from falling out of the nearly emptied larval 

 skin ; but it is not destined to remain hanging by 



