With many
species the shells are transparent, and for the last few days
before emergence the growth of the little caterpillars can be
watched through them.
When matured they break or eat a hole in their shells and emerge,
seeming much too large for the space they occupied. Family
characteristics show at once. Many of them immediately turn and
eat their shells as if starving; others are more deliberate. Some
grace around for a time as if exercising and then return and eat
their shells; others walk briskly away and do not dine on
shell for the first meal. Usually all of them rest close
twenty-four hours before beginning on leaves. Once they commence
feeding in favourable conditions they eat enormously and grow so
rapidly they soon become too large for their skins to hold them
another instant; so they pause and stop eating for a day or two
while new skin forms. Then the old is discarded and eaten for a
first meal, with the exception of the face covering. At the same
time the outer skin is cast the intestinal lining is thrown off,
and practically a new caterpillar, often bearing different markings,
begins to feed again.
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