in the butterfly. The mouth parts of caterpillars are profoundly different from 

 those of the butterfly. The imago lives, as we have seen, upon fluid nourishment, 

 and therefore is provided with a sucking organ, the proboscis. The caterpillar, on 

 the other hand, is armed with a pair of cutting mandibles, with which it shears off 

 tiny strips of the leaves upon which it feeci. It holds the edge of the leaf in place 

 with the three pairs of true legs, while it suuorts its body upon the pro-legs during 

 the act of eating. 



When the caterpillar emerges from the egg the head is in many cases seen to be 

 very large in proportion to the rest of th<* ^dy. This relative disparity soon dis- 

 appears, however, as growth takes place- As the larva increases in size, it soon 

 reaches a point at which the skin in which *t made its appearance in the world be- 

 comes too small and tight for further coF^rt and use. Thereupon it proceeds to 

 moult, or shed, this now uncomfortable gj-raent. The skin splits along the back 

 and the caterpillar crawls out of it. Before moulting the caterpillar always takes 

 the precaution to attach this outer skin hy strands of silk to the leaf or branch 

 upon which the moult is to take place, having escaped from the cast-off garment, 

 the caterpillar sometimes turns around and eats it before resuming its vegetable 

 diet. The process of moulting takes pi ~ four or five times before the larva 

 changes into a chrysalis. 



Caterpillars differ entirely from butterflies in that they are able to produce 



