Thecaterpillar lives a fairly simple existence, slinking along, dodging theravenous appetites of birds, all the while devouring as much food aspossible.  At some point he finds achoice spot and forms a cocoon around himself and begins one of the mostastonishing transformations within nature: he turns into a butterfly.  During this metamorphosis he sheds all hiscaterpillar “fur” (his setae), his caterpillar legs, and even his caterpillarantennae.  His slender body, too, givesway to the chrysalitic soup, as his own digestive juices consume him.  Not even his head survives intact, butdissolves until all that he was liquifies into the ingredients necessary toform his butterfly “self.”  I put “self”in quotes because it’s not clear whether anything of the caterpillar actuallysurvives the transformation.  There isevidence of at least some memory being carried through the change, though howthis occurs remains a mystery.  Nonetheless,nearly all that is caterpillar is gone. What emerges is an entirely new and beautifully winged creature.

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