The Red Cloud chief., 1889-07-05
8 DEVELOPMENT.
0D91Go and Interesting TraAaSdsAA&1s0
R0coESled by Naturalist.

S1VSeOU OeVe1OVWeWUs
OD,ege and ~Interesting Tr..ssasna&ssal
Recorded BY N~ataralists.
The best way to learn about the develop
0ent Of insects Is to observe the process f0l
oneself, says . writer in tho Country Gentle
0eR. This can easily be done in the case ID
q Of q common butterflies, and it woull
10 difficult to name any simple study in nat
Sral history Of 90 much interest and instrue'
Sion.
It is best to begin with the egg stage, and,
therefore, tho first thing to be done is e
0nd the eggs Of butterflies. They can
usually easily be found, by careful looking,
attached to the under sides of the leaves Of
plants upon which larval butterflies feed.
These larval butterflies arc commonly called
''worms;" every one has noticed such so
called worms upon the leaves of cabbage,
tomato and nilk-wecd plants. If then, for
example, the leaves Ct cabbage plants be
carefully examined in early summer there
will De found upon them clusters of eggs
destined to hatch and develop into the COM
mon cabbage butterfly. The eggs arc oval
IN shape, of q yellow color, and have ridges
summing lengthwise, their appearance. as o
whole, being somewhat like ears Of yellow
corn.
A Leaf with eggs attached should bepulled
q and placed in . box with . glass cover,
SUCH cover both admitting light and en-.
obling tho observer to watch the process Of
development A wooden box, like . school
chalk-box, the sliding cove Of which his
been replaced by . pieceof glass Of like size,
3 . convenient form Of box to use, but any
TN or wooden box with pieco Of window
glass for cover will answer.
The leaves Of tho cabbago plant being thick
and hardy, they viii probably not wither, Il
kept in . shady place, until the eggs have
Aatched. Each eGE produces . small green
md white worn. TAe worm should q
ooce b supplied with fresh cabbage leaves:
& will b found % have no lack Of appetite.
Il grows with surprising rapidity, attaining
within . week or ton days it, full aha. d
length IN inch or inch and . half. Il q.
taches itself along tho edge Of . Leaf, and,
With it, sharp-biting mouth-parts, devours
e bit BY bit until IL 10 entirely eaten, WHEN
e efeedily attacks another. lts body seemo
swollen BY it, constant 8orging. The truth
& that 1t Is to pass into . resting condition,
prove its time 50 a. to gather strength q
last it in its period Of abstinence.
At tho end Of ten or twelve days the worm
d ready t. pass into this resting stage
what Is called the pupa stage. At this time
Il will be seen to abandon its leaf and crawl
about the box, somewhat eagerly, q IL
0eaIching for something. This uneasy &C.
Hvity may continue for some time, but final
", as if having found a suitable place, il
proceeds to spin o net or web, in which il
may suspend itself during the approaching
period Of inactivity. This net Is not o CO
coon, such as the larva of some insects spin,
but q slight web serving merely to suspend
the pupa- Tho extreme appearance now
o01oGes. Tho bright green color becomes
duh. and several rings into which the skinof
tho worm is thrown become less distincA
and finally h assumes tho characteristic
pupe forn-an 0blonR, angular bedy, more
pointed 1t q end than the other. What
has taken place IS the noting Of tho skin,
that IL, the skin Is separated from the body
and becomes simply . 6r0, hard case in
which the living insect Is contained.
In this pupe stago-n0W often called Q
cAfySaliS-it remains Tor ten OF twelve days.
OF course Ill tho while important changes
ose gong On within; Tho energy stored up
during it ported Of hungry activity now
0eeves to carry On those vital processes that
0ado the duh and seemingly lifeless pupo
eneceeded BY the sprigAAy, handsome but.
oofdy. These changes 4&ect tho entire
structure Of tho animal, internal scarcely
lesS than external; tho butterfly has q diff.
ferent nervous. digestive, circulatory, etc..
system than tho larVa
Atlast tho butterfly cmcrGeo from the pupa. |
The wall Of tho latter breaking sway at ono
end, probably by tho growth and movements
ef the insects within. II 10 ono Of our plain |
yellow butterflies; yet one can imagine that |
Il has quite . triumphant bearing q il |
emerRes from its Confinement. It soon *.
tends it, wings, and after Q few Autters,
u allowed to escape, scars away.
Such il An outline Of the DEVELOPMENT Of
Insects, in which tho metamorphosis Is com.
pleted-that is, insects which, besides tho
Egg stage, pass through three states, named
Duccessively, the larya, pupa and image, or
perfect insect But IN many insects tho
transformation is inconplete-that il T.
'ay, the metamorphosis 3 not 20 marked
tho several states are not 20 distinct,
Take, Tor instance. the grasshopper. In
his insect both the larva and pupe resem-
pic the perfect insect in form, walking and
IeedtnS in the same manner, and differing
:hieily i. the absence e wings, though even
he wings arc present, in rudimertary form.
n the pupa. And there arc groups Of in.
''CSo WHICH iucr0 Is no meCamOrphOSlS at !
". These are Of the lower orders, and in
U the insects ~unfavorably known a.
In these orders the insect, when il
.merges from the egg, is quite like the full
'rown specimen, except in size. |
After all the development of the butterfly |
nd the other insects Of complete meta
a0rphOsis is no more wonderful than that Of
ther animals. The transformations through
'hich the insects pass are in no essential
aspects different from those through which
Their animals pass in their development. |.
he chief difference is that in the insects !
aese transformations take place after tho :
gg-stage, while in many other animals-as 6
birds and most ~reptiles-they take place :
'ithin the egg. In the insects the egg Il {
cry small, and there Is not enough food =
latter contained n It for the growing en- d
1t therefore breaks through the egg, =
I'D Is able to seek food for itself. But in :,
10 birds b egg is large, and has . supply
? food sufficient for the n0urishment of the \
nhryo until it has attained full structural Z
s~velopment- Hence it goes through its =
snsformations within theegg. In the in. a
ct the development Is fer o time arrested, I.
that b larva can gather q supply Of = :
cd, both for its immediate wants and for =
lining o store Of energy for the next stage al
its lEe-hiStOry. In the birds and most u