THE LIFE CYCLE 93 
flies and moths is usually called), which hatches from the 
egg in-three or four days, is a creature bearing little or 
no resemblance to the beautiful winged adult. The larva 
is worm-like, and instead of having three pairs of legs 
like the butterfly it has eight pairs; it has biting jaws 
in its mouth with which it nips off bits of the green milk- 
weed leaves, instead of having a long, slender, sucking 
proboscis for drinking flower nectar as the butterfly has. 
The body of the crawl- 
ing worm-like larva 
(Fig. 43, 6) is greenish 
yellow in color, with 
broad rings or bands of 
shining black. It has 
no wings, of course. It 
eats voraciously, grows 
rapidly and molts. But 
after the molting there 
is no appearance of 
rudimentary wings; it 
is simply a larger worm- 
like larva. It continues 
to feed and grow, molt- 
ing several times, until 
after the fourth molt it 
appears no longer as an 
active, crawling, feed- 
ing, worm-like larva, but as a quiescent, non-feeding pupa 
or chrysalis (Fig. 43,c). The immature butterfly is now 
greatly contracted, and the outer chitinous wall is very 
thick and firm. It is bright green in color with golden dots. 
It is fastened by one end to a leaf of the milkweed, where 
it hangs immovable for from a few days to two weeks. 
Finally, the chitin wall of the chrysalis splits, and there 
issues the full-fledged, great, four-winged, red-brown butter- 
fly (Fig. 43, d). Truly this is a metamorphosis, and a start- 
Fia. 44.—Metamorphosis of mosquito (Culex). 
a, larva; 6, pupa. 
