fkin, and how it will be enabled to fix itfelf to the hillock,
as it has neither arms nor tegs. A little attention foon explains
the operation, and extricates the obferver from his embarraffment.
It feizes the exuvia by. the rings o f the body, and thus holds itfelf
as it were by a pair o f pincers ; then, by bending the tail, it
frees itfelf from the old fkin, and by the fame method foon fuf-
pends itfelf to the filkem mount; it lengthens out the hinder part
o f the body, and clafps, by means o f it’s rings, the various foldings
of the exuvia one after another; thus creeping backward on
the fpoils, till it can reach the hillock with the ta il; which, when
examined by the microfcope, will be found to be furnilhed with
hooks to fix itfelf by.
It is furprizing to fee with what exacfnefs and eafe thefe infedls
perform an operation fo delicate and dangerous, which is only
executed once in their life ; and nought elfe can account for it,
but the confideration that he, who defigned that the caterpillar
fhould pafs through thefe changes, had provided means for that
end, regularly connefting the greater fteps by intermediate ones,
the defire of extending their fpecies, forming and afting upon the
organization, till the purpofes o f their life are completed.
Different kinds of thefe infeQ.s require variety in the mode of
fufpenfion; fome fix themfelves in an horizontal pofition, by a
girdle which they tie round their b o d y ; this girdle appears to the
naked eye as a Angle thread when examined with the microfcope,
it will be found to be an affemblage of fine threads, lying
clofe to each other, fo fixed as to fupport the caterpillar, and yet
leave it in full freedom to efFeft the changes. Like the preceding
it remains for fome time motionlefs, and then begins to bend,
move, and agitate it’s body in a very Angular manner, till it has
opened the exterior covering, which it pufhes off and removes
much in the fame manner as we have defcribed in the preceding
article, and yet with fuch dexterity, that the pupa remains fuf-
pended by the fame girdle.
The induftry o f thofe that fpin cones, or cafes, in which they
inclofe themfelves, in order to prepare for their transformation
in fecurity, is more generally known, as it is from one fpecies of
thefe that we derive fo many benefits, namely, from the filk-
worm. All caterpillars undergo fimilar changes with it, and
many in the butterfly flate greatly exceed it in beauty: but the
golden tiffue, in which the filk-worm wraps itfelf, far furpaffes the
filky threads o f all the other kinds ; they may indeed come forth
with a variety o f colours, and wings bedecked with gold and fear-
let, yet they are but the beings of a fummer’s day ; both their life
and beauty quickly vanifh, and leave no remembrance after them;
but the filk-worm leaves behind it fuch beneficial monuments, as
at once record the wifdom of their Creator, and his bounty to
man. *
The fubftance of which the filk is formed, is a fine yellow
tranfparent gum, contained in two refervoirs that wind about the
inteftines, and which, when they are unfolded, are about ten
inches long; they terminate in two exceeding fmalforifices near
the mouth, through which the filk is drawn, or fpun, to the degree
of finenefs which it’s occafions may require. This apparatus
has been compared to the inflrument ufed by the wire-drawers,
C c 2 and
* Pullein on the Culture of Silk.