Chrysalis

“ The dark reddish brown chrysalis, which is enclosed in an earth-covered cocoon, may be found at the roots of oak trees in the autumn or winter.
The moth emerges between late April and early June, sometimes remaining in the chrysalis for two winters. Light attracts it freely, and it is frequently seen in the illuminated moth trap, and may be occasionally noted on the iron frame of a gas lamp in suitable places. Sometimes the moth is met with in the daytime, resting on the trunks or branches of oak trees in woods, or on palings adjacent thereto. ”

“ The really active work lasts but a few minutes, and the insect rarely fails to go through with it successfully. The chrysalis is a beautiful object, and as it hangs pendant from some old fence-board or from the under side of an Asclepias leaf, it reminds one of some large eardrop; but, though the jeweller could successfully imitate the form, he might well despair of ever producing the clear pale-green and the ivory-black and golden marks which so characterize it. ”

“ The chrysalis is pale whity-brown, hairy above, with black dots; head and the upper edge of the wing-cases streaked with black.
Occasionally a few butterflies emerge in August, but they usually remain in the chrysalis until May or June.
This is a woodland species, and prefers the sunny but sheltered nooks and glades, but also resorts to the broader rides and pathways. Flowers do not seem to have any strong attraction for it, but it may often be seen sitting on the foliage of a bush or sapling tree. ”

“ When, however, the butterfly is ready to emerge, the shell of the chrysalis is split along the thorax and at the lower edge of the wing-cases, and the insect is then able to release itself from the pupal trappings. This breaking open of the chrysalis shell is termed dehiscence (dehisco, "to split open") , and the manner in which it is effected varies in different species. The emergence of a butterfly from the chrysalis is always an interesting operation to observe, and every one should make a point of watching the process, so that he may obtain practical knowledge of how the thing is done. ”

“ Chrysalis.—The chrysalis is yellowish-brown, spotted with darker brown spots, those of the thoracic and first and second abdominal segments having the lustre of mother-of-pearl.
This very pretty little species has a wide range, extending from New England to Montana, from Nova Scotia to Alaska, and southward along the ridges of the Alleghanies into Virginia and the mountains of North Carolina.
(2) Brenthis triclaris, Hübner, Plate XV, Fig. 3, ♂ (Hübner's Fritillary) . ”

“ The female chrysalis differs from the male by having a wider body, and the lateral posterior lobes undivided. It is agile and active. The antennæ and feet extend beyond the margin of the body but in repose are drawn in and cannot be seen from a back view. The segmentary divisions are the same as in the larvæ. When sufficiently developed to reach a twelfth of an inch in length, it assumes an elongated octangular figure. When in motion the feet are not visible beyond the body, the antennæ alone over-reaching it. ”

“ Sometimes severe effort is needed before the point is properly fastened, and the chrysalis frequently has to climb by stretching the two joints above those by which it is suspended, and clinging hold of the shrivelled skin further up. ”

“ In each generation of chrysalids, there would be one aware individual—one Watcher, to keep guard, and to waken the rest should the path drift back in the lifetime of his chrysalis. Then, when that particular chrysalis wore out, the Watcher would be free to return to sleep, while another took his place. ”

“ 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. ”

“ From this amber sheath, which presents all the usual characteristics of a chrysalis, the adult Psyche emerged, in the guise of a shapeless Moth, looking like a big maggot; at the present time, she has slipped back into her old jacket, moulding herself into it in such a way that it becomes difficult to separate the container from the contents. One would take the whole thing for a single body. ”

“ The chrysalis is clothed with tiny hairs, and when freshly formed is green in colour, but becomes purplish-brown after a time. It appears to be unattached to anything. I think, however, that there are generally a few strands of silk around or about it, but these are so easily broken when the chrysalids are removed that they escape observation. May and June are the months for the butterfly, which occurs in various kinds of situations, such as the outskirts of woods, high hedgerows, hill slopes, and boggy heaths. ”

“ As soon as it is grown big enough and fat enough, the grub hangs itself up as a "chrysalis" which is a Greek word that may be freely rendered into "golden jewel." The middle drawing shows its shape; in colour it is of a pale green with spots of gold, or as it has been described "a green house with golden nails."
After about two weeks the great change takes place, and the bundle-baby or chrysalis opens to let out the splendid red-brown Butterfly, of nearly the same red as a Cock Robin's breast in springtime, with lines and embroidery of black and its border set with pearls. ”

“ The dorsal half of the head and wing points are black, and the ventral half orange. Some of the points on the body are tipped with orange. The whole surface is finely and irregularly furrowed and granulated. The ground colour is pale buff, covered with fine fuscous reticulations. The entire surface is clothed with a whitish-powdery substance, giving a pale lilac or pinkish bloom to the chrysalis, which, however, is easily rubbed off, the chrysalis then assuming a brownish hue. ”

“ When freshly emerged from the chrysalis, the species represented by Figs. 6 to 8 on Plate 38 is of a beautiful blue-green colour, but in course of time a greyish shade creeps over the wings. The dark cross lines vary in intensity; in some specimens well defined and blackish, in others very faint, and hardly discernible; occasionally, the space between the lines on the fore wings is dark shaded; the whitish submarginal line is not always present. This species is the cythisaria of Schiffermiller, and the cytisaria of other authors. ”

“ I felt within me a boundless wealth of this almost mystic love, and a belief that this earthly chrysalis would come forth in another world a butterfly, which, detached from all earthly conditions would soar from planet to planet, till it became united to the spirit of All-Life. For the first time the thought crossed my mind that Aniela and I may pass away as bodies, but our love will survive and even be our immortality. "Who knows," ”

“ The moth is always very much less in evidence than the caterpillar, or even the chrysalis. Sometimes the former is seen in May or June, or even earlier, and it has been supposed that these precocious specimens have hibernated after emergence from the chrysalis here during the previous autumn. The question of hibernation need not be entertained, but there may be doubt as to whether the specimens are British born or aliens. ”

“ Gold spots are freely sprinkled over the brown chrysalis. The caterpillar stage lasts five or six weeks, the butterfly appearing in another three or four. The larva suspends itself by the tail, often wrapping itself in a nettle-leaf, on which it feeds. If the pupa is gathered from the nettles for breeding, it should be fastened in the cage in the same position, head downwards. Disappointment is often experienced in the number of butterflies that emerge from the chrysalis state, so many being attacked by ants, &c. ”

“ Though the structure of the fore limbs is the character specially chosen for separating these different families from one another, it is of course understood that they differ from one another in various other distinctive features. The chrysalis of the Nymphalidae for example hangs head downwards suspended by the {21}tail, whereas in the Pieridae and Papilionidae metamorphosis takes place with the chrysalis attached by the tail but supported also by a fine girdle of silk round the middle so that the head is uppermost. ”

“ It has already been said that this supposed [Pg 149] hemlock-seed was really a chrysalis. Now, a chrysalis is that form which all caterpillars assume, before they change into butterflies; and the animal remains within, generally for some time, in a dormant state;—all the time, however, making a slow progress towards its development. Now, Rollo’s great chrysalis remained in a conspicuous position, upon the middle shelf in the cabinet, for some weeks. Rollo always insisted, when he showed it to visitors, that it was a hemlock-seed. Jonas said he knew it was not ”

“ Before undergoing its metamorphoses, it attaches itself by the tail and a band round the middle, like the caterpillars of Papilio, Colias, Pieris, &c., or rather like those of Geometra pendularia and Gyraria.
“The chrysalis is elongated and pointed, scarcely angular, of a green colour with a transverse gilded band; the extremity, which is of a deeper green, is sprinkled with a great number of golden points. ”

“ Later on, when I had a microscope with a large field of view, I opened the chrysalis of a butterfly and examined it. On a clear yellow background of fluid matter there was sketched, as it were, the outline of the future butterfly in half-shadow, without, as yet, any bodily organisation. That is called "necrobiosis," or the dying-off of living tissue. And the deliquescence of the chrysalis in slime is termed "histolysis." ”

“ Often, when spading or hoeing among the potato vines, I uncover them."
"Mademoiselle, the caterpillar which makes this chrysalis feeds by night on the leaves of [pg 271] the potato, and, when ready to transform, burrows into the earth to become a chrysalis or pupa, as we call it. That iss why mademoiselle has often disinterred the pupæ of this largest and strangest of our native sphinx-moths."
Maryette leaned over and looked into the wooden box, where lay the chrysalides.
"What kind of moth do they make?" she asked. ”

“ In August and early September the moths appear. Emergence from the chrysalis usually takes place soon after midday; the males are early on the wing, and when reared in captivity they should be secured as soon as the wings are dry, or they may spoil themselves in their efforts to escape. Reared females are apt to be deformed, but for "assembling" they may probably be as useful as more perfect examples if the rearer happens to be able to exhibit the attraction in a locality for the species. Both sexes have been taken at electric light. ”

“ In this limbless, senseless state the females remain fall and winter. Toward the end of winter these animated galls begin to swell, and those containing males enter the state of the chrysalis, from which the males emerge at the beginning of the warm season and fecundate the gall-like females, which undergo neither chrysalis state nor any other change, but die, or we may call it dissolve into their offspring, for there scarcely remains anything of them, except a pruinous kind of down, after having given birth to the young ones. ”

“ Chrysalis.—The chrysalids are short, compressed, attached at the anal extremity, with a girdle or cincture about the middle, closely fastened to the surface upon which pupation takes place.
Plate XXIX. Genus EUMÆUS, Hübner [ 237]
Butterfly.—Medium size or small; dark in color, with the under side and the borders of the upper sides beautifully adorned with spots having a metallic luster. The palpi are divergent, longer in the female than in the male. The antennæ are stout, rather short, with a gradually thickened club. The eyes are naked. The veins on the fore wing are stout. ”

“ In this cocoon the chrysalis remains from ten to twenty days, the moth appearing at one end, the period of its final state not extending beyond from four to eight days. The moths are quiet, seldom attempting to fly from the apartment in which they are reared. The silk is so exceedingly delicate and flossy, that it is impracticable to wind it off ”

“ Like the butterflies, moths pass through the stages of egg, caterpillar, and chrysalis before they attain the perfect state (imago) , and the duration of the several stages is just as variable. The majority assume the moth condition but once in the year, but some species have two, or even three, generations in the twelve months, whilst others occupy twenty-four months in completing the life cycle. In one or two species the chrysalis stage may last four, five, or even six years. ”

“ As the skin slowly splits through the wrigglings of the apparently uncomfortable occupant, it is gradually pushed backward—that is, upward—till it is in a shrivelled condition, and the body of the insect is nearly free. But the chrysalis thus brought to light is provided with little hooks on the end of its 'tail' by which it can attach itself to the irregularities of the crumpled coat. Its conical abdomen is also very flexible, and it can, by bending this, seize hold of a ridge in the skin, holding it between the segments. ”