caterpillar skin

did you know that when caterpillars grow up, they leave behind their shells in perfect working order? its like a caterpillar suit that any insect can step into and take over and become a caterpillar. they have sudden abilities to chew leaves loudly and gross out children (unless of course those children take delight in stomping the caterpillars or blowing them up with firecrackers in a cup. i, of course, never knew those children. nor was i one. but the rumors exist and persist). i wonder what happens when the moth or butterfly or whatever the caterpillar has transformed into suddenly stars its former caterpillar self functioning. can it be in two places at once! does the now butterfly have an instinctual knowledge that oh yes, that's my former self and it goes on without me if another steps into the skin. or is there a sudden moment of self-revelation and reflection about how it is to exist in two forms at once the splitting of the former self. the direction inhabited by another. and what type of other insect would find itself or decide to take over and hide away in the disguise, chomping away and tenting up. or if not hiding away, then the excitement of being a newfound other - exploring the vision and abilities and limitations. after awhile the insect inside the caterpillar skin begins to weave a cocoon and gestate the transformation into the moth or butterfly. then the insect that crawled into the skin becomes a third creature and gets to face the shell of itself that it in habited before. but it never gets to be itself in original form again.