Abstract
WHILST working at the colour patterns of Insects in November 1867, I very carefully dissected off a portion, about one-eighth of an inch square, of the hard integument from the side of a pupa of P. Machaon, near the anterior extremity. The portion of the interior thus displayed was filled with a clear colourless fluid, in which was floating a delicate membrane, to which were attached several tubes, trachea, formed by a spiral fibre. In the fluid were floating many roundish grains. Another pupa of the same brood was examined January 15, 1868, and another on April 15. The floating grains were now evidently made up of ganglia of the spiral fibre of the trachea, and were connected with the tube by long pedicels of the same kind of fibre. On May 20 the tubes had enlarged to such an extent that they were almost contiguous, and were covered with minute granules, apparently incipient scales; in fact, a few small but well-formed scales appeared on one portion. The specimen examined in November was laid in cotton; a perfect cicatrice was formed, and the butterfly in excellent condition appeared at the usual time.
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HIGGINS, H. Pupa of Papilio Machaon. Nature 5, 204 (1872). https://doi.org/10.1038/005204a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/005204a0
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