208 PTILOTA. 



the pupae of several orders exhibiting the same general form. 

 In the Jjepidoptera, however, the various organs of motion 

 of the future insect are laid along the breast and sides, but 

 are folded up under a hard skin, whence they are much less 

 distinctly perceptible than in the pupse of other insects. 

 Linnaeus has termed this an obtected pupa. In general, 

 lepidopterous chrysalides are of an oblong-oval form, obtuse 

 at the head, and gradually becoming narrow towards the 

 tail ; but in some moths, as in the Bombyx luna, the form is 

 shorter, and obtuse at each end. Under this form the insect 

 appears neither to have legs nor wings ; it seems even desti- 

 tute of life, taking no nourishment, and appearing like an 

 unorganized mass, the only sign of life being a slight occa- 

 sional twitching of the hind part of the body. The outer 

 covering appears of a cartilaginous nature: it is commonly 

 smooth, but in some few instances it is hairy. From the 

 blunt extremity of the body are to be observed various small 

 and narrow compartments, arranged like the bands of a 

 mummy. These are the coverings of the legs and antennae, 

 disposed along the breast ; the part from whence they seem 

 to arise is the head, which is covered by a piece termed the 

 Cephalotheca. On the outside of these narrow bands are to 

 be observed two broader scales, which, covering the wings, 

 are termed Pterotheca, arising from the opposite side to tlie 

 breast, and which is the covering of the thorax, or Cytotheca. 

 This is followed by the abdomen-case, 0Mfroti0M. 



The chrysalis, upon quitting the exuvia of the caterpillar, 

 is soft and tender ; by degrees, however, its external enve- 

 lope becomes hard and friable. Moreover, the surface of the 

 body is at first moistened with a viscid fluid, which exudes 

 from beneath the wings and the other parts which are in- 

 closed between these organs, and which becomes thickened, 

 nnd hardens rapidly, ami in so doing jrlnes together the con- 

 tiguous parts, which are consequently now inclosed in an 



