4$0 THE BUTTERFLY* 



fore tlicre dovclope, the outer flcin is feen to wither nnd 

 lofe the vivacity of its colours, owing to a new coat 

 which ah'eady covers the animal beneath, and intercepts 

 the juices which formerly circulated through it: Attcr 

 fome CiTorts, this dried covering is rent towards the back. 

 part of the head, v/here a frefh flvin appears ; and through 

 this aperture, the worm makes his efcape leaving his 

 fpoils behind *, 



After undergoing fcvcral changes of this kind, the a- 

 nimal prepares to undergo another (lili more conuderable, 

 which is to introduce it intotheftateof achryfalid, deprived 

 of almcft all motion, and incapable of taking food. This 

 change is eiTccied neaily in the fame manner as the fore- 

 2;oing; but in fome it is very long in being accompli [bed* 

 Several fpecies of the butterfly worm, conftrucl in a very 

 ingenious manner a cocjue cr nut of filk, into v/hich they 

 enter before their transformation, and in which they con- 

 tinue for nine months, without food, before their meta- 

 morphofes be accompllflicd f. During this long period, 

 they are apparently inanimate, and take no food. 



Various fubfiances enter into the compohtion of the 

 habitations conftructed by th^fe animals before their me- 

 tamorphofes ; fome are of filk ; in others that is combined 

 with other matter ; feveral kinds conRruct no habitation, 

 hut arc protected by a crudaceous fliell, formed by a glu- 

 tinous fabftance, exfuding from their bodies : Some are 

 fufpcnded vertically, while others han:^ horizontally bj 

 a thread which furrounds the middle of the body J. 



The external form of the chryfalids varies according to 

 the foecies of butterfly that inliabits them ; in all, hcwe° 

 ver, there arc apertures oppofite to the thorax, by wiiich 



3 rcfpiratiori 



* Reaumur, Tome I. mem. 3. f Tdme 11. mem. lo 



] Idem Tome I. mem. il & IZ- 



