Feeling itself ripe for transformation, the insect climbs up the wire-gauze cover by means of its hinder and intermediate limbs.

The fore-limbs are folded and crossed on the breast, and are not employed in supporting the insect, which hangs in a reversed position, the back downwards.

The triangular winglets, the sheaths of the elytra, open along their line of juncture and separate laterally; the two narrow blades, which contain the wings, rise in the centre of the interval and slightly diverge.

The proper position for the process of moulting has now been assumed and the proper stability assured.
The first thing to do is to burst the old skin.

Behind the corselet, under the pointed roof of the prothorax, a series of pulsations is produced by alternate inflation and deflation.