the butterfly when it shall have emerged and taken wing. The act of transforma- 

 tion from the caterpillar stage to the pupal stage is very wonderful. The caterpillar 

 makes provision for the great change by weaving a little button of silk and, in the 

 case of many of those larvae, the chrysalids of which are not pendant, by also weav- 

 ing a little girdle of silk, which it passes around its back, and which holds it in place 

 very much as an Indian baby is held by the strap which passes over the shoulders 

 of the squaw (see Plate C, Fig. e). Having made these preliminary arrange- 

 ments the caterpillar becomes very quiet, its hind pro-legs being securely hooked 

 and tangled into the silken button to which it is attached. After a while, when the 

 proper moment has arrived, the skin of the caterpillar splits, just as in the moults 

 which preceded, and by a series of wriggling or vibratory motions the chrysalis 

 succeeds in working off the skin of the caterpillar until it has all been shed except 

 where near the end of the abdomen the skin is caught between the edges of two of 

 the horny rings which form the abdomen. Then the insect with the cremaster, as 

 it is called, a little spikelet at the very tip of the chrysalis, which is armed with 

 small hooks, proceeds to feel about until these hooks become entangled in the silk 

 of the button which has been provided on the under surface of the twig, the stone, 

 or the fence rail, where the transformation is occurring. As soon as the chrysalis 

 is securely hooked into the button of silk it lets go of the little section of the skin 

 by which it has been supported and rapidly assumes the shape in which it will re- 



35 



