300 SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR 



die at once when removed from the capsule; it has 

 been kept alive in a glass tube for a month. 



So far so good. The next questions are: What 

 Mexican plant is it that forms the capsule or tripartite 

 fruit in which the caterpillar is found? How did the 

 caterpillar get there? What kind 

 of an insect does it turn into, and 

 when ? I will answer the last 

 question first. The caterpillar turns 

 into a chrysalis in the early part of 

 the year, having first cut a perfectly 

 circular ring in the shell of the 

 capsule. The circular plate thus 

 within the ring is not disturbed, 

 and cannot be observed without 

 FIG. 53. The caterpillar of very c j ose inspection. The making 

 ^rl^rrtt f this perfectly circulars without 

 jumping bean : magnified removing the piece marked out 

 three diameters. Observe must be effected by a rotation of 

 the jaws (with which the the cater pill ar 's head and jaws as a 



circular plate is cut in the . . 



bean before the grub be- centre-bit an astonishing perform- 

 comes a chrysalis), eyes, ance. But when the moth emerges 

 three pairs of pointed legs, f rom the chrysalis, a gentle push is 



enough to cause the little circular 



minal segment with a pair 

 of suckers. (Drawn from 

 nature for this work. ) 



four sucker legs placed in 

 the middle region, and fol- 

 lowed by three segments plate to fall out, and the moth 

 without legs, and a ter- creeps through the hole to the outer 

 world. The moth, which comes out 

 of the chrysalis-coat, is a very pretty 

 little creature (see Fig. 54), measur- 

 ing two-thirds of an inch across the opened wings, which 

 are marked with dark and reddish-brown-coloured bands. 

 It is a close ally of the British codling moth, the cater- 

 pillar of which eats its way into the core of apples, and is 

 familiar to all growers and eaters of that fruit. The codling 

 moth and the Mexican "jumper" belong to a group of 



