Page:Insects - Their Ways and Means of Living.djvu/349

 CATERPII.IAR AND THE MOTH

from the blood the waste products containing nitrogen, and discharge them into the intestine along with the waste parts of the food from the stomach. Ordinarily the iXlal- pighian tubules are of a whitish color, but just'before the tent caterpillar is ready to spin its cocoon they become congested with a brig[at vellow substance, l.;nder th'e mcroscope this is seen to consist of masses of square, oblong, and rod-shaped crvstals (Fig. 57)- At this rime the caterpillar has ceased to feed and the alimentary canal contains no food or food refuse. The intestine, however,

FIG. ! ç8. A piece of the fat-body of the rail weborm a, a, globules of fatty oil in the cells; J)«, N«, nuclei of the cells becomes filled with the vellow mass from the Malpighian tubules; and this is the material with which the tent caterpillar plasters the walls of its cocoon, giving them their yellowish color and stiffened texture. The vellow powder of the cocoon, therefore, consists of the cvstals from the Malpighian tubules. We now come to the question of why the caterpillar eats so much. It is ahnost equivalent to asking, "\Vhy is a caterpillar?" The caterpillar is the principal feeding stage in the insect's lire; eating is its business, its reason for being a caterpillar. It eats not only to build up its own organs, many of which are to be broken down to furnish building aterial for those of the moth, but it eats also to store up within its body certain materials in excess of its own needs, which likewise will contribute to the growth of the moth.

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INSECTS