286 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Nov. , '03 



Some Experiments with a Chrysalis. 



Th'e only pretext for the presentation of the following experi- 

 ments, conducted upon a chrysalis, is that an acquaintance with 

 the behavior of an organism in that particular stage of develop- 

 ' ment may disclose new peculiarities of interest to students of 

 ** mental evolution " in animals. 



Let a, b, c, d and e (apex) represent the segments of the 

 chrysalis. Also let the right and left sides of the segments, 

 with the front view up, be designated by ra, rb, re, rd and re ; 

 and la, lb, le, Id and le. 



Having rapped the chrysalis at different points 

 of the segments until the organism showed appar- 

 ent sign of agitation ; segment a at ra, — after a 

 short lapse — was rapped, —as was naturally ex- 

 pected, ra contracted and la expanded. Next rb 

 was attacked ; as in the case of ra, it contracted. 

 As a matter of course, lb expanded. The same 

 repetition continued until re was reached. As 

 the chrysalis now stood, ra, rb, re, rd and re re- 

 mained contracted ; and la, lb, le, Id and le ex- 

 panded. Next la, lb, le, Id and le were attacked respectively, as 

 a consequence of which ra, rb, re, rd and re expanded accord- 

 ing to the contraction of the corresponding opposites. Thus 

 far these experiments elicited no evidence that the activities dis- 

 played were prompted by some mental operations. However, 

 before proceeding further, let us note what these experiments 

 disclosed. It was observed that when any particular segment 

 was hit on either left or right side, the succeeding segment 

 remained unagitated ; that is, it showed no sign of disturbance. 

 For instance, when a was struck at ra, rb remained motionless 

 until it itself received a blow. 



A second series of experiments was performed with the same 

 results as disclosed by the first series, except towards the close, 

 when a change in the monotony of impulses occurred. No 

 sooner was any of the segments hit, than the succeeding one 

 showed apparent sign of disturbance, yet the second succeed- 

 ing one remained unagitated. 



The third series of experiments disclosed further encourag- 



