Chrys'a-lis, n.

noun

(krĭs'-), n.; pl. CHRY-SAL/I-DĒS. [Lat. chrysallis, Fr. chrysalide, Gr. χρυσαλλίς, the gold-colored sheath of butterflies, from χρυσός, gold.] (Nat. Hist.) A form into which the caterpillar or larvæ of butterflies, moths, and some other insects, passes, and from which the perfect insect, after a while, emerges.

The animal in this state has an external case or covering, which is sometimes smooth and shining, sometimes made of a fiber spun by the larvæ, as the chrysalis of the silk-worm, in which the fiber is silk.

A silkworm curled inside a cocoon, shown with strands of silk extending from it. — C. of Silk-worm.