Page:The fairy tales of science.djvu/176

144 must admit that the dark spots upon the white ground produce a very pretty effect. I need not tell you that I originally came from an egg, which my maternal parent, guided by an unerring instinct, had deposited upon a leaf capable of affording me proper and sufficient nourishment in my caterpillar state. And a beautiful little egg it was, shaped like a flask, marked with fifteen ribs, converging towards the smaller end, and having a delicate yellow colour. "I was a very little fellow when I made my escape from the egg, but having a tremendous appetite I grew rapidly, and soon became a handsome caterpillar. Nature had furnished me with sixteen feet, and had dressed me in a coat of bluish grey, having a bright yellow line down the back, and another on each side. I am fairly shocked when I think of my voracity, for I frequently devoured double my own weight of cabbage in twenty-four hours. At length, when I had attained my full size, I felt that I was about to undergo a wonderful metamorphosis; accordingly I stole away from the plant on which I had been feeding, and found a secluded corner where I could perform unmolested the tedious and painful operation of wriggling out of my skin.

"Having thrown off my grey coat, and with it my sixteen legs, I became a chrysalis, a mere mummy,