TlIE CANADIAN 



HOltTIC 



ICULTUUIST. 



143 



hairs will he seen on each seffment; these ave shoAvn at e andy in fig. 11, 

 The caterpillar seems to eat as though eating was the sole purpose 

 of its life, and in consequence it increases in size very rapidly, so that 

 it is ol)liged to crawl out of its skin twice more before it has attained 

 its full size. This process of changing its coat is called moulting. 

 Just before each moult it ceases to eat for a few hours, but as soon as 

 that process is over, it falls-to again with gi'eater voracity than ever. 

 At eacli moult the black fleshy horns become longer. The new horns 

 are nicely folded up under the skin, as can be seen at d, fig. 11, but soon 

 grow straight after tlie old skin has' been cast oft". 



If any of our readers, the younger readers especially, have a desire 

 to begin the study of entomology, they will hud this insect a very 

 interesting subject with which to make a beginning. The writer can 

 well remember his excursions to a neighboring field overgrown with 

 milkweeds, when he had scarce attained to the dignity of pantaloons, 

 in search of these beautiful larv^te. These he gathered in considerable 

 numbers, confined them in a box, and watched with delighted interest 

 the various metamorphoses they underwent. Those who have never 

 witnessed them, if they have any taste for the study, will be surprised 

 and greatly gratified to watch the changes undergone in the progress 

 from the egg to the butterfly. The creature is of such a size, and so 

 beautiful in all its stages, that there is no difficulty in seeing it at all 

 times, and each step adds some new feature of interest. 



"When the caterpillar has attained its full size it will be about an 



inch and three quar- 

 ters in length, and 

 ^\ill have the appear- 

 ance shown in fig. 12, 

 The markings are 

 very distinct. Each 

 Fig. 12. segment has a trans- 



verse band of black in the centre, bordered on each side with white, with 

 a yellow band between. After it has reached this stage of its life it 

 ceases to eat, and presently begins to roam about in search of a suitable 

 place to undergo its next change. And a wonderful change it is; 

 instead of a hungry creeping creature, eating voraciously night and day, 

 it is about to fasten itself to a spot from which it can not move, and 

 pass into a condition in which it will have neither mouth to eat with, 



