Beautiful Butterflies. 27 



larger Entomological work. It is related that it some- 

 times takes as long as twenty-four hours to effect these 

 changes. Eeaumar observes that " it is impossible not 

 to wonder that an insect which executes them but once 

 in its life should execute them so well. We must 

 necessarily conclude that it has been instructed by a 

 Great Master : for he w r ho has rendered it necessary for 

 the insect to undergo this change, has likewise given it 

 all the requisite means of accomplishing it in safety." 



When first the larva skin is thrown off, the chrysalis 

 is soft and tender ; it is covered with a sticky kind of 

 fluid, through which portions of the future Butterfly 

 can be clearly seen; like a thing closely packed up 

 and put away until it is wanted. Gradually the fluid 

 covering hardens, and closely enveloping all the parts 

 of the insect, forms a case impervious to wet or any 

 other atmospheric influence. 



*'It was a shrivelled shrouded form, 

 Though but of late a living worm ; 

 A caterpillar it had been, 

 Once clad in suit of silken green ; 

 But now how changed by nature's laws ! 

 Where are the eyes, the legs, the jaws ? 

 No signs of being can one trace 

 In the cold mass ; its outer case, 

 Like cere cloth round a mummy spread, 

 Is passive, motionless, and dead/' 



And there it swings, or lies wrapped up in its silken 



