LEPIDOPTEEA. 163 



its mouth, reduces it to a sort of paste, which it then uses in the 

 formation of an envelope, of such hardness that a knife can hardly 

 cut into it. 



The Tineina lines the interior of a grain, of which it has 

 previously devoured the contents, with a coating of silk, and 

 divides it thus into two different chambers. In one of these it 

 is to change into a pupa ; in the other, it places its excrement. 

 And so the little careful architect constructs its house in such a 

 manner as to find in it tranquillity, cleanliness, and comfort. 



When caterpillars have not within their reach the materials 

 they are in the habit of employing, like good workmen, they 

 content themselves with what they can get. Reaumur supplied a 

 caterpillar which was forming its cocoon of pieces of paper of 

 which the box was made in which it was imprisoned. 



What an extraordinary condition, what a strange phase of 

 vitality does the chrysalis present to us a being occupying the 

 middle state between the caterpillar and the perfect insect ! How 

 little does it resemble that which it previously was, and what 

 it will become ! In appearance it is scarcely a living being ; it 

 takes no nourishment, and has no digestive organs ; can neither 

 walk nor drag itself along, and hardly bends the joints of its 

 body. The outside skin of the chrysalis appears to be cartila- 

 ginous ; it is generally smooth, although some species have hairs 

 scattered over their bodies. 



We distinguish in chrysalides two opposite sides. The one is 



Fig. 124. A conical pupa. Fig. 125. Pupa having angular projections. 



the insect's back, the other its under side. On the upper part of the 

 latter (Fig. 124) we perceive various raised portions, formed and 



M2 



