Pupae vs. chrysalis

[bill and Dale]

       I think we're all in agreement here, butterflies get a special
name for the container that houses their pupal stage: Chrysalis.  Some
moths gets a special name for the container that houses their pupal
stage: Cocoon. Some other moths get no special name for the container
that houses their pupal stage because their container is so boring and
is underground and so we just call their by the name of what's in the
bag: Pupa. Maybe Skippers are really moths that fly during the day and
have funny curved clubbed antennae and so they don't deserve a special
name for their container like chrysalis. Do lepidoperists call Skipper
pupae chrysalids?
   In support of Anne's posistion is W.J. Holland.  In "The Moth Book",
1922, Page 10,  Holland writes: "The pupae of moths are generally brown
or black in color...The bright golden and silvery spots which ornament
the pupae of many species of butterflies, causing them to be called
chrysalids, are seldom, if ever, found."
     It occurs to me that those leps that have special names like
chrysalis or cocoon for the containers that protect them between their
larval and adult stages still have pupae in them. On the other hand
those leps that have no special name for their containers simply get
called by what's in the bag: Pupa.
   Anyway that's my two one hundreths of a dollars worth.
                                                                   Bill
Yule



 
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