Inside the cocoon

What's inside? I knew there was something. I could hear it rattle, and peering through the moth's escape hole I could see something dark. So I cut one open. It was satisfying, like breaking into a tomb, and the compacted layers of silk just the right thickness and resistance to my sharp, thin-bladed knife. It revealed this


the discarded outer casing of the pupa like darkly polished breast plates of some ancient hardwood, and something less discernible, maybe excreta of a sort...