270 UNDER THE OPEN SKY 



feeding is out of the question. When it has 

 reached this condition, Nature teaches it 

 to clinch its toes firmly into the stem of the 

 plant on which it lives and await develop- 

 ments. These arrive in the shape of a split- 

 ting of the skin across the neck and down 

 the back. The creature, thus released from 

 the cramping pressure, wriggles out of its 

 own old skin and comes out with a new 

 and larger covering. It now grows rapidly 

 for a few hours. Once more it has room 

 inside to fatten. This process repeats itself 

 until the larva has attained its full size. 

 Then it creeps down into the ground 

 and prepares for sleep. Here its last con- 

 scious act (if I am not too bold in imag- 

 ining its psychology) is to split its old 

 larval skin about the neck and shove it 

 back. Then the larva sheds the skin and 

 leaves it to lie as a pellet just, back of it. 

 Now the creature looks like a long brown 

 pitcher with a slender handle. This is 

 the final external change for the season. 

 All through the winter it lies apparently 

 unaltered. 



