VI Animal Life 
muscular movement, assisted by the 
occasional withdrawing of the 
claspers, Finally it reaches the 
horn at the tail end, which at first — 
glance appears to present difficulties ; 
however, as the moulting skin nears 
it, it is bent downwards flat to the 
body, pointing tailwards, the skin 
then shpping gently over it, and 
when about half-way the horn is 
sharply withdrawn, and this gives 
the final impulse to the cast skin, 
which then gently slips off the end 
segments and claspers, and almost 
simultaneously the mask skin from 
the head falls off lke a cap, having 
remained on during the whole of. 
the moulting process. This head 
covering 1s much stronger than the 
body skin, being somewhat horny 
in texture. The whole process 
occupies about. five minutes: 
The feet and tail-horn are now 
of a pink colour instead of black, 
assuming the latter colour as another 
moulting season nears; and like- 
. wise the black patch on each side 
TEE On GS DE ~ of the head has disappeared with 
The caterpillars on the branch to the right were 21 days old, and the mask, being now green lke the 
those on the branch to the left 31 days when photographed. : 
body. As examples of the rate 
of growth of the larve, in the third illustration is shown to the right a few of the 
young larve which I photographed twenty-one days after emergence, while to the left 
is shown others from another brood thirty-one days after emergence. When full-grown 
these make remarkably beautiful caterpillars, of a bright green colour with seven oblique 
streaks of white and shaded purple on each side of the body, with other markings 
of pale yellow and orange along the back and around the spiracles, contrasted by 
the dark markings round the head and black horn at the tail. 
Tf the larva survive all the troubles that beset caterpillar. life, about the end of 
August or early in September its ever increasing appetite seems to decline, and after 
taking things very leisurely for a few days it eventually wends its way down the 
branches to the soil below and, after carefully surveying the ground several times 
over, selects a nice easy place where soil and leaves make so far as possible a light 
mould, into which its robust form slowly disappears from view. It enters the soil 
in a slanting direction, and usually takes from three to five minutes to completely 
disappear, after which we see no more of it until it comes out a perfect and fully 
developed moth sometime probably in June or July of the following year, although 
occasionally from some cause they remain in the pupa for two years. If we prevent it 
going below the soil so as to watch its transformation, we observe its brilhant colours 
slowly fade, and its skin becomes distorted in a manner that leads the inexperienced 
to imagine that it is dying; eventually, however, the last caterpillar skin breaks away, 
and we find instead of our handsome caterpillar a reddish brown chrysalis or pupa. 
