The Common Objects of the Country

by J. G. Wood

The chrysalis is intended to remain in an attitude which we should think singularly uncomfortable, but which seems to suit the constitution of certain creatures, such as bats and chrysalides; namely, with its head downward. Why some insects should be thus suspended, while others lie horizontally, is not known as yet. But there can be no doubt but that some purpose is served by the various positions and localities assumed by insects in their pupal state.

Any one of a reflective mind, on hearing that a chrysalis was to be suspended by its tail, would feel some perplexity as to the means by which such a position could be attained. For the old caterpillar’s skin has to be shed, and thus the legless, limbless chrysalis is left without any apparent power to suspend itself. The attitude which it assumes may be seen on [plate D], fig. 4 b. On examining the chrysalis itself, and the leaf or twig to which it is suspended, it will be seen that a little silken mound is fastened to the leaf, and the chrysalis is furnished with some hooked processes on its tail, which are hitched upon the silken threads, and thus hold the creature in the proper position.

The Peacock Butterfly, [plate H], fig. 8, is an insect of very similar habits and manners. The under side of the wings is very dark, and when they are closed over the back, the butterfly looks more like a flat piece of brown paper than an insect. The spots on the upper surface of the wing are especially beautiful; and the mode in which those spots are coloured by their feathers is shown in [plate L], fig. 4, where a portion of the wing-spot is slightly magnified. This figure shows also the manner in which the feather-dust of the butterfly’s wing is arranged. The larva of this beautiful insect is shown on fig. 8 b. Like that of the Atalanta, it feeds on the stinging-nettle.

On [plate D], fig. 1, is drawn a very lovely insect, one of the numerous blue butterflies that may be seen flitting about the flowers in a garden, themselves of so flower-like an azure, that they may often be mistaken for a blue blossom. The caterpillar, fig. 1 b, is, as may be seen, rather curious in shape, and the pupa, fig. 1 c, is hardly less so.

Among the scales of this insect occur certain specimens called from their shape “battledore” scales, some of which may be seen on [plate K], fig. 8, contrasted with the ordinary scales.

On the same plate as the blue butterfly, fig. 2, is seen a very pretty and common insect, called the “Orange-tip,” on account of the colour of the wings. Only the male butterfly possesses these decorations, the female having wings merely white above, although she retains the beautiful green speckling of the under-wings.

Two more butterflies, and those the commonest of all, will complete this chapter. One will be at once recognised from the drawing, [plate I], fig. 4, as the White Cabbage Butterfly. The specimen here represented is the female; the male is smaller and has darker spots.

This is the parent of those green and black caterpillars which devastate our cabbage-beds, make sieves of the leaves, and are so disagreeably tenacious of their rights of possession. Pest as it is to the gardeners, to cooks, and sometimes, alas! to consumers, it would be a hundredfold worse but for the exertions of a fly so small as hardly to be noticed, but by its effects. This insect belongs to the same order as the bees, and is shown upon [plate J], fig. 6. Small though it be, one such insect can compass the destruction of many a caterpillar, though not one thousandth part of the size of a single victim. While the caterpillar is feeding, the ichneumon fly, as it is called, settles upon its back, pierces its skin with a little drill, wherewith it is furnished, and in the wound deposits an egg. This process is repeated until the ichneumon’s work is done.

As each wound is made, the caterpillar seems to wince, but shows no farther sense of uneasiness, and proceeds with its eating as usual. But its food serves very little for its own nourishment, because the ichneumon’s eggs are speedily hatched into ichneumon grubs, and consume the fatty portions of the caterpillar as fast as it is formed.

In process of time the caterpillar ought to take the chrysalis shape, and for that purpose leaves its food and seeks a convenient spot for its change.