170 THE CATERPILLAR KIND. 



into a firm crust, and in about four-and-twenty hours the nurelia 

 may be handled, without endangering the little animal that is 

 tlitis left in so defenceless a situation. Such is the history of the 

 little po;l or cone that is found so common by every pathway, 

 sticking to nettles, and sometimes shining like polished gold. 

 From the beautiful and resplendent colour with which 't is thus 

 sometimes adorned, some authors have called it a Chrysalis, im- 

 plying a creature made of gold. 



Such are the efforts by which these little animals prepare foi 

 a stite of perfection ; but their care is still greater to provide 

 themselves a secure retreat during the season of their imbecility 

 It would seem like erecting themselves a monument, where they 

 were to rest secure, until nature had called them into a new and 

 more improved existence. For this purpose, some spin them- 

 selves a cone or web, in which they lie secure till they have ar- 

 rived at maturity; others, that cannot spin so copious a cover- 

 ing, suspend themselves by the tail, in some retreat where they 

 are not likely to meet disturbances. Some mix sand with their 

 gummy and moist webs, and thus make themselves a secure in- 

 crustation ; while others, before their change, bury themselves in 

 the ground, and thus avoid the numerous dangers that might 

 attend them. One would imagine that they were conscious of 

 the precise time of their continuance in their aurelia state, since 

 their little sepulchres, with respect to the solidity of the building, 

 are proportioned to such duration. Those that are to lie in that 

 state of existence but a few days, make choice of some tender 

 leif, which they render still more pliant by diffusing a kind of 

 glue upon it ; the leaf thus gradually curls up, and withering as 

 it enfolds, the insect wraps itself within, as in a mantle, till the 

 genial warmth of the sun enables it to struggle for new life, and 

 bursts from its confinement. Others, whose time of transforma- 

 tion is also near at hand, fasten their tails to a tree, or to the 

 first worm-hole they meet in a beam, and wait in that defence- 

 less situation. Such caterpillars, on the other hand, as are seen 

 to lie several months in their aurelia state, act with much greater 

 circumspection. Most of them mix their web with sand, and 

 thus make themselves a strong covering ; others build in wood, 

 which serves them in the nature of a coffin. Such as have made 

 the leaves of willows their favourite food, break the tender twigs 

 of them first into small pieces, then pound them as it were to 

 powder; and, by means of their glutinous silk, make a kind of 

 piste, in which they wrap themselves up. Many are the forms 

 which these animals assume in this helpless state ; and it often 

 lnppens, that the most deformed butterflies issue from the most 

 beautiful aurelias. 



In general, however, the aurelia takes the rude outline of the 



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