14 
TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 
or thorax ; the last two are rudimentary, and have become closed 
in at the end of the abdomen, like the slides of a telescope. A 
closer examination of the inside of the moth proves that certain 
changes in the length and grouping of the important nervous 
organs have accompanied this shortening and coalescence of the 
abdominal segments. 
The change in the consistence of the integuments is very 
decided in the chrysalis. It is not at first very evident in the 
moth, but if the body of one is cleared from the hairs which 
clothe it, the dorsal (back) and ventral (underneath) portions will 
be noticed to have become coriaceous, whilst the lateral parts or 
the sides have retained their former softness. The vestiges of 
the two arches of the original segments are thus preserved. 
Many insects, instead of having soft skins like the moths and 
MEMBRANOUS LEGS OF THE SILKWORM CATERPILLAR NOT FOUND ON THE MOTH. 
caterpillars, have the integument of the abdomen very hard and 
strong. Such is the case with most of the larvae of flesh-eating 
beetles, which come out of the egg much more mature than many 
others, and whose abdominal segments are nearly covered with 
solid plates. 
Let us examine the larva of a large carnivorous beetle, the 
Calosoma sycophanta. The abdomen consists, as in the cater- 
pillars, of nine distinct segments ; ten might be counted if the 
terminal tubercle were considered to be a ring. Examined from 
above (dorsal), the rings show a large back piece, divided by a 
groove in the middle, and on either side a small plate answering 
to those which are to be seen just above the junction of the legs 
to the thorax. It may be noticed as a faint line between the 
