BOMBYX MORI. 473 



generally throw out some of the excrement which falls upon the open- 

 ing and wets it. Those that have not enclosed themselves within a pod, 

 find more difficulty in getting out of the chrysalis-coat than the others 

 do ; for the pod fixes the coat, so that they can creep out of it ; but in 

 the other way there is nothing to fix the chrysalis-coat, so that it is 

 carried along with the body. 



As a silk- worm is a moth which is only awake in the evening, we find 

 that very few come out of their chrysalis -coat in the day-time ; most 

 of them emerge in the morning, as it were, beginning the day. When 

 they come out first, they work their bodies and their wings for some 

 time ; the wings are no larger than they were when they went into 

 the chrysalis state, and appear like a pair of large hound's ears. In 

 about twenty minutes the wings begin to expand, which is first at their 

 roots ; and the expansion goes on towards their edges. The expanded 

 part is so much larger than the other, that the part not expanded 

 appears as if shrunk. Diiring the expansion, they throw out a good 

 deal of the contents of the bags at the anus. 



Of internal parts common to hoth male and female. — When in the 

 moth-state there is an air-bag formed, which lies at the upper or fore- 

 part of the belly, close to the thorax, and I believe between the remains 

 of the stomach and back ; it is attached to the thorax, as if a passage 

 was leading from it through the thorax to the mouth, which is most 

 probably the case. The little white bodies, which appear like fat, are 

 now chiefly filled with air ; so that they were principally formed for 

 receiving air, at least when in the moth-state. 



The silk-moth, although it does not eat, yet it has a mouth, oeso- 

 phagus, stomach, intestines, and anus. Instead of two pinchers to cut 

 vegetables, which belong to the caterpillar, it has two soft spongy pro- 

 tuberances [abortive mandibulse], one on each side, and two small bodies 

 like short feelers [palpi]. The oesophagus is small, passing through the 

 head, neck, and thorax. The stomach is a pretty large bag containing 

 a fluid for moistening the silk, which fluid is thrown up when the moth 

 is making its way through the silk-pod. The intestine is small, and 

 contains nothing : but near the anus it swells into a large bag, like a 

 caecum, which contains a reddish fluid, which would seem to have chalk 

 mixed with it ; and which is evacuated soon after its birth from the 

 pod. How the whole of this canal is metamorphosed ! The mouth is 

 altered, rendered unfit for eating food or dividing it, and adapted to the 

 future use of regurgitation. The short oesophagus is lengthened and 

 narrowed : the long stomach is shortened and widened, and, instead of 

 digesting for the support of the animal, it is forming a fluid to be 

 thrown up to moisten the silk. The short intestine is lengthened and 



