Caterpillars, like all insects, must shed their skin in order to grow larger. Each stage a caterpillar goes through is known as an instar. Various species go through various numbers of instars before shedding to become a pupa. After they eclose from the pupa as an adult they will never grow again!
Witness this gorgeous Actias luna shed its skin, you can see as it slowly pulls itself out of its old skin. If you note the white thread-like material on the sides, those are its trachael tubes shedding too! So some of the internal structures of the caterpillar also have to be shed as it grows larger! The video ends with some really great shots of the crochets on the prolegs gripping the branch it's on!
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