State Agricultural Society. 
547 
groove formed by one of the larger veins, but quite often on the even 
surface of the leaf. Having selected the spot it will occupy, it spins 
and weaves a carpet of threads on which to stand securely, it being 
of the utmost importance to have its hind feet firmly fastened. It 
stations itself on this carpet, standing witli its head downward toward 
the base of the leaf. It remains in this position twelve or sometimes 
twenty-four hours, awaiting its change, sometimes bending its body 
slightly for a short time and then straightening itself again, raising its 
head for a moment and then lowering it, or giving a sudden shrug or 
jerk of its body, especially if anything intrudes upon it. 
The worm at this time presents some alterations in its form and 
appearance. The most conspicuous of these changes is in the neck or 
second segment, which is stretched out to double its ordinary length, 
its anterior part being smooth and shining and strongly narrowing to 
the base of the head. This smooth glossiness of the neck is a cha¬ 
racter by which we always know when one of these worms is about 
to molt. On each side of the neck are six small black dots, four of 
them placed in a curved row which extends obliquely downward 
and forward, and the other two are back of these. The head is trans¬ 
lucent and colorless, with a green cloudiness at its base. On the 
throat is a smooth protuberance as long as wide, its end rounded and 
feebly translucent. 
After standing nearly motionless for several hours some slight 
distortions and writhings of the worm begin to be perceptible. The 
fore part of the body at times becomes distended and cylindrical and 
the hind part is less thick and tapering; anon the fore part becomes 
shrunken and the middle is distended; these phenomena being 
evidently produced by the movements of the worm pent up within 
the skin, contracting and elongating itself, and pressing now against 
one part and then against another. At length, as if it had become 
impatient witli this long dalliance and delay, a more vigorous and 
determined pressure upon the anterior end is evident; slight tremors 
and twitchings of the fibers upon the top and side of the neck are 
6een, and soon the skin all around the suture at the base of the head 
parts asunder, the head is pushed forward and with a gentle wriggling 
the large new head is crowded out from the open end of the skin, 
with the old head, which is now an empty shell, adhering to and 
covering its mouth like a muzzle. And continuing to wriggle and 
squirm and elongate itself, the three first rings and their feet are 
slipped out from the old skin, which is crowded back, constricting the 
remainder of the body, the liberated anterior portion being bulged 
