1232 The Zoologist— June, 1868. 



the skin of ihe second and third segments, and the antenna? are rolled 

 up in the lobes of the cranium. When the chrysalis comes out every 

 part is detached and free, and if then put in alcohol they will remain 

 so; but when left to its natural course it will soon be observed that a 

 general envelope covers the whole chrysalis, and that any motion of 

 the legs, wings and antennas is impossible, since the insect is contained 

 in the hard brownish envelope secreted by its tegument, and now 

 resembles an Egyptian mummy. If before the shell of the pupa has 

 become hard an antenna, a leg or a wing be changed from the posi- 

 tion that the insect has given to it, that part of the body which would 

 otherwise have been covered by the part removed out of place will 

 remain of a different colour and of a thinner consistence, and an insect 

 thus treated will not generally live to arrive at the imago slate. 



Before the last transformation is accomplished the insect takes a 

 long rest, and this period is the longest of its life — if it can be called 

 an existence to live without eating, breathing, or even, probably, 

 without having any distinct sensation. Tlie pupa spends about nine 

 months in this torpor, and braves the hardships of winter, notwith- 

 standing all the changes of temperature, being frozen as hard as a 

 stone. It is only when the warm spring days come that life awakens, 

 and the pupa is transformed into a perfect insect. If a worm be 

 opened longitudinally, even when half-grown, there will be found in 

 the female a vast number of little globular while bodies attached to a 

 fine lube on each side of the stomach. These little bodies are the 

 eggs of the future female moth, as yet in a rudimentary state. This is 

 the only method of distinguishing the female from the male while in 

 the larva-state. 1 have never been able to find any other character by 

 which to distinguish the sexes. Again, on making the same dissection 

 of the larva, there will be found on each side of the stomach, and 

 running from head to tail, two long secretory reservoirs, making a 

 great many convolutions : these are the silk-reservoirs : the transparent 

 liquid they contain is the silk, as yet in a liquid state. If one of these 

 vessels be taken out carefully and stretched, it will measure twenty- 

 five inches in length : these two reservoirs become very narrow as 

 they approach the mouth, and unite together, terminating in a special 

 contractile organ attached beneath the mouth. When spinning, the 

 silk is thrown out from the two reservoirs at the same time, and the 

 thread is in reality composed of two distinct fibres which can be easily 

 separated. The silk in the reservoirs is sometimes used in commerce, 

 being sold under the name of "gut." The process of obtaining the 



