Eye Spy: Afield with Nature Among Flowers and Animate ThingsGibson, W. Hamilton (William Hamilton)
History
Eye Spy: Afield with Nature Among Flowers and Animate Things
Gibson, W. Hamilton (William Hamilton)
Insects; Natural history; Natural history -- Outdoor books
He is now a very quiet and circumspect young professor. It were indeed
a dangerous experiment to wiggle in such a tight suit as now incloses
him, so he remains immovable and resigned. A strange process is now
going on in his physiology. Hour by hour his outer skin is becoming
detached from the under skin, and now he is simply inclosed within its
sac. The shell of his former head has been crowded off his face, as it
were, and has slid down towards the mouth of the new head within.
Shortly after this feature has taken place the imprisoned caterpillar
becomes restless to burst his bonds, and a quiet working motion
begins, which gradually forces the skin in wrinkles towards the tail
of the body, of course drawing it tighter and tighter about the head,
and with it the connection from the spiracles at the sides of the
body. At last, with one final effort, the skin behind the head
ruptures, and discloses the new skin beneath, and through the opening
thus made the new head soon appears, and the entire new suit of
clothes emerges in a few moments. But though the old clothes are
worked off into a little shrunken pellet at the tail, the old
head-shell is still retained, being attached to the hairs immediately
back of the new head, and thus retained. Five or six times in the life
of the caterpillar this same process is performed, each performance
leaving its token; so that our "professor" enjoys the unique
distinction of being able, in his mature years, to look up to the head
he wore when he was a baby or youngster, and make it useful, too, in
keeping off the flies as he ponders on the flight of time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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