Red-admiral, also cause the green things, upon which it will feed so
voraciously, to appear!
For the little worm is a tremendous eater; it seems to do almost nothing
else during its grub existence; but eats and grows, eats and grows;
constantly changing its skin for a new one in order to obtain room for
itself, while it is laying up a store against the time when it will be
unable to take in food.
At last it really seems tired of eating, and after it has cast its skin
four times, the fifth one becomes thick and hard, and the caterpillar hangs
itself by a fine silken thread of its own spinning to a twig, and passes
into its second stage--that of the "pupa," or chrysalis, from which it will
awaken, a thing of life and beauty, to live in the air instead of crawling.
[Illustration: (A) CATERPILLAR; (B) CHRYSALIS.]
The name "pupa" or doll, was given to the creature in this stage, because
long ago people thought the way in which insects are thus enclosed was
somewhat like the way in which the babies used to be wrapped round in
bandages or "swaddling clothes": it is also called a "chrysalis," because
sometimes dotted with gold or pearly spots. But the wonder of it is that
inside that narrow shell lies an insect quite unlike the caterpillar which
lay down to rest; a creature with legs and wings beautifully folded, all
ready for use when the time for its release has come.
How little we dream, as we watch a caterpillar crawling along a leaf, of
what lies hidden beneath its skin! Yet I have read of a naturalist who
proved for himself that it was actually so.
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