12 
THE ART OF REARING 
even longer ; while there are some which are al- 
ways congregated till their change into the chry- 
salis. When turned into perfect and winged 
animals, they fly about in every direction. 
4. On the Transition from the Condition of the 
Caterpillar, to that of apparent Death , or, to the 
Chrysalis stale . 
The last casting of the skin, which is visible, 
being finished, the caterpillar devours, during a 
certain number of days, an almost incredible quan- 
tity of food, and attains its greatest size. Arriv- 
ed at this point, its appetite abates, and entirely 
ceases. The animal then loses by degrees its 
weight, and size. (Chap. VII.) 
Disgusted with its food, it seeks change of place 
and solitary rest; it feels the want of clearing itself 
of all the excrementitious matter which loads its or- 
gans, and even of the membrane which envelop- 
ing the excrementitious matter, served as a species 
of lining to the stomach and intestines. The silky 
substance, and the animal substance, with more 
or less liquid, is then all that remains of the 
caterpillar. 
The insect, when in this state, continues to con- 
tract its skin, and it is this contraction which 
powerfully assists it in spinning, or facilitates its 
means of emitting the silk, contained in its small 
reservoirs. 
