FOUE-FOOTED BUTTERFLIES. 279 



specimen of this fine butterfly was taken at Sandwich, by 

 Mr. John Bethune. 



Some butterflies have the first pair 

 of legs so much shorter than the oth- 

 ers that they cannot be used in walk- 

 ing, and are folded on the breast like 

 a tippet. Their caterpillars, when 

 about to transform, do not make a Thecla Augusta ' 



loop to support the fore part of the body, but suspend them- 

 selves vertically by the hindmost feet. As they all secure 

 themselves pretty much in the same way, it may be proper 

 to explain the process. Having finished eating, the caterpil- 

 lar wanders about till it has discovered a suitable situation 

 in which to pass through its transformations. This may be 

 the under side of a branch or of a leaf, or any other hor- 

 izontal object beneath which it can find sufficient room for 

 its future operations. 



Here it spins a web or tuft of silk, fastening it securely to 

 the surface beneath which it is resting, entangles the hooks 

 of its hindmost feet among the threads, and then contracts 

 its body and lets itself drop so as to hang suspended by the 

 hind feet alone, the head and fore part of the body being 

 curved upwards in the form of a hook. After some hours, 

 the skin over the bent part of the body is rent, the fore part 

 of the chrysalis protrudes from the fissure, and, by a wrig- 

 gling kind of motion, the caterpillar-skin is slipped back- 

 wards till only the extremity of the chrysalis remains attached 

 to it. The chrysalis has now to release itself entirely from 

 the caterpillar-skin, which is gathered in folds around its tail, 

 and to make itself fast to the silken tuft by the minute hooks 

 with which the hinder extremity is provided. Not having 

 the assistance of a transverse loop to support its body while 

 it disengages its tail, the attempt would seem perilous in the 

 extreme, if not impossible. Without having witnessed the 

 operation, we should suppose that the insect would inevitably 

 fall, while endeavoring to accomplish its object. But, al- 



