The Life-History and Anatomy of Moths 



under the soil escape is made by means of the power possessed 

 by the abdominal somites, or rings, of moving with a sort of 

 spiral twist. The pupa "wriggles" itself upward through the 

 soil until it reaches the surface, following in its course the line of 

 least resistance, which is generally the line through which the 

 larva burrowed downward to its hiding place. In this movement 

 the pupae are often aided by spinous projections at the lower edge 

 of the somites which prevent backward motion. When emer- 

 gence from a cocoon occurs, the insect is provided with the power 

 of ejecting from its mouth a fluid, which has the property of 

 dissolving and cutting the silken threads. When the moth first 

 emerges from the pupa its wings are soft and flabby and its body 

 is long and vermiform. The first act is to secure a quiet resting 

 place. The fluids of the body are in the process of circulation 

 rapidly absorbed from the abdominal region, and, pressing out- 

 ward under the action of the heart, cause the wings to expand 

 and assume their normal form and the other parts to acquire 

 adjustment. There is no more interesting spectacle than to 

 witness the rapid development of a moth from its apparently 

 helpless condition at emergence from the pupal stage into an 

 insect strong of wing and often gloriously beautiful in color. 



THE ANATOMY OF MOTHS 



The body of all lepidoptera consists of three subdivisions, the 

 head, the thorax, and the abdomen. The head bears the princi- 

 pal organs of sense and of nutrition, the thorax those of locomo- 

 tion, and the abdomen those of generation and in large part those 

 of assimilation, respiration, and circulation. 



The reader who desires to ascertain the names and the func- 

 tion of the various organs of the body of moths may consult in 

 this connection the corresponding portion of the " Butterfly 

 Book," in which the principal facts have been fully set forth as to 

 the diurnal lepidoptera. The anatomy of moths does not radically 

 differ in its main outlines from that of the Rhopalocera. The 

 same names are applied to the parts, and the differences which 

 occur are not so much differences in function as in outline. 



In studying the head of moths we find that as a rule the 

 head is not as prominent as is the case in butterflies. It is 

 more retracted, as a rule, though in the case of some families, 



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