CHANGING COATS. 7 



shrugging, he manages to tear his coat down the back, 

 and lastly, "by patient efforts, shuffles off the old rag ; 

 when, lo ! underneath is a lustrous new garment, some- 

 what similar, but not exactly a copy of the last, for our 

 beau has his peculiar dress for each epoch of his life, 

 the most splendid being often reserved for the last. 



This change of dress ("moulting," it is sometimes 

 called) is repeated thrice at least in the creature's life, 

 but more generally five or six times. Not only does 

 the outer husk come off at these times, but, wonderful 

 to relate ! the lining membrane of all the digestive pas- 

 sages, and of the larger breathing tubes, is cast off and 

 renewed also. 



After each moult> the caterpillar makes up for his 

 loss of time by eating more voraciously even than 

 before, in many instances breaking his fast by making 

 a meal of his " old clo' " an odd taste, first evinced, as 

 we have seen, in earliest infancy, when he swallowed 

 his cradle. 



On Plate I. are shown the chief varieties of form 

 taken by the caterpillars of our British butterflies, 

 and a glance at these will give, better than verbal 

 descriptions, a general idea of their characteristics. 



Their most usual shape is elongated and almost 

 cylindrical, or slightly tapering at one or both ends. 

 Of these, some are smooth, or only studded with short 

 down or hairs ; such are the caterpillars of the Swallow- 

 tail butterfly (fig. 1), of the Brimstone (fig. 2), Clouded 

 Yellows, and Garden, and other white butterflies. 

 Others, of the same general form, are beset with long 

 branched spines, making perfect chevaux-de-frise; such 

 are those of the Peacock, Eed Admiral, Painted Lady, 

 and the Silvery Iritillaries. 



The caterpillars of another large section have the 

 body considerably thicker in the middle (rolling-pin 

 shaped), and the tail part two-forked, or bifurcate. 

 This form belongs to the numerous family that includes 

 the Meadow-brown (fig. 3), &e Kinglets, and many 

 others. 



