Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PU'PA, n. [L. supra.]

In natural history, an insect in the third state of its existence, or in other words, the last state but one, that state in which it resembles an infant in swaddling clothes. As some insects in this state have a bright exterior, as if gilded, it has been called chrysalis or aurelia, from the Gr. χρυσος, and L. aurum, gold; but as this gilded appearance belongs to few insects, the term pupa is now more generally used. In this state most insects take no food, are incapable of locomotion, and, if opened, seem filled with a watery fluid, in which no distinct organs can be traced.