340 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



portions of the windpipe being separated from their ex- 

 ternal proper orifices, are thrown away with the skin 

 which is then cast off. By this motion, a cleft or open- 

 ing is made in the back near the head, and through the 

 aperture the body makes its way, the skin being by de- 

 grees drawn back towards the tail. This process is 

 assisted greatly by a yellow kind of ichor which exudes 

 from the cavities of the skull; and the pupa appears 

 then free and disengaged. 



' While the insect is making its passage out, the 

 antennae are separated from the body of the pupa, 

 and are torn, as it were, out of two cavities of the 

 skull ; and their length, as they become unfolded, 

 occupies the same place which the two muscles of the 

 mandibles formerly occupied. The wings, also, and 

 the legs appear to be circumscribed in their limits; 

 the wings being drawn from their situation near the 

 fore-legs, and the legs from the lateral parts of the 

 back. But as these unfolded parts are yet mucous, 

 they easily stick to each otli^r, and, insensibly grow- 

 ing dry, they become so closely united that the pupa 

 appears like one entire garment. Now as these parts 

 are peculiar to the moths, and are destined for their 

 use, the nature of the moths seems to be to emerge 

 sooner from the state of the caterpillar than is com- 

 monly believed, and also to be earlier implanted 

 in it; for evidently, in the silk-worm, the beginnings 

 of the wings may be seen under the second and 

 third ring of the body, before the texture of the 

 web. The antennae are likewise delineated on the 

 skull, and the web being finished, they have their 

 own termination; nor will it be improper to suppose 

 that the new kind of life in the pupa is only a mask 

 or veil of the moth, which is already perfect within, 

 the intent of which is, that it should not be struck oi 



