210 STATES OF INSECTS. 



support itself, the anxious spectator expects to see it fall 

 to the earth. His fears, however, are vain ; the supple 

 segments of the pupa's abdomen serve in the place ol 

 arms. Between two of these, as with a pair of pincers, it 

 seizes on a portion of the skin; and bending its body once 

 more, entirely extricates its tail from it. It is now wholly 

 out of the skin, against one side of which it is supported, 

 but yet at some distance from the leaf. The next step it 

 must take is to climb up to the required height. For this 

 purpose it repeats the same ingenious manoeuvre, making 

 its cast-off skin serve as a sort of ladder, it successively 

 with different segments seizes a higher and a higher 

 portion, until in the end it reaches the summit, where 

 with its tail it feels for the silken threads that are to sup- 

 port it. But how can the tail be fastened to them ? you 

 ask. This difficulty has been provided against by Crea- 

 tive Wisdom. The tail of the pupa is furnished with nu- 

 merous little hooks pointing in different directions a , as 

 well adapted to the end in view as the crochets of the 

 larva's prolegs, and some of these hooks are sure to fast- 

 en themselves upon the silk the moment the tail is thrust 

 amongst it. Our pupa has now nearly completed its la- 

 bours ; it has withdrawn its tail from the slough, climbed 

 up it, and suspended itself to the silken hillock — manoeu- 

 vres so delicate and perilous, that we cannot but admire 

 that an insect which executes them but once in its life, 

 should execute them so well : nor could it, as Reaumur 

 has well and piously observed, had it not been instructed 

 by a Great Master. One more exertion remains : it 

 seems to have as great an antipathy to its cast-off skin, 



a Plate XXIII. Fie. 8. a. 



