144 



ENTOMOLOGY. 



FIG. 173. a, egg of Pieris ole~ 

 racea; b, Colias philodice; c, 

 Vanessa atalanta. After 

 Scudder. 



when the caterpillar is disturbed, a singular V-shaped 



yellow organ, which sends out a 

 disagreeable smell, and is thought 

 to be repugnant to birds, ichneu- 

 mon insects, etc. On each side 

 of the third segment is a large 

 eye-like spot, peculiar to this 

 species. There are along the 

 body nine pairs of spiracles, one 



on ^ ie se g men t nex ^ to the head, 

 and eight pairs on the fourth 

 to eleventh segments, or what 

 correspond to the first eight abdominal segments of the 

 butterfly, the latter having, however, but seven pairs of 

 spiracles on the hind body. 



The caterpillar's eyes are minute, simple eyelets, three or 

 four on each side of the head, and only useful, probably, in 

 distinguishing day from night. This is useful information, 

 considered from a caterpillar's standpoint, as most of them 

 hide by day and feed by night. That caterpillars are very 

 hearty eaters goes without saying. They perform prodigies 

 of gastronomic skill. Did all the caterpillars which are 

 born into the world survive the various ills and enemies 

 they are heirs to, not a green thing would be left on the 

 face of the earth. The locust's mission would be ended. 

 It appears that when there are several broods of caterpillars, 

 those of the later broods are hardier than those of the first 

 generation. 



The jaws of the caterpillar are 

 large, black, horny appendages, 

 and are toothed on the cutting 

 edge, so as to pass through a leaf 

 somewhat like a circular saw (Fig. 



174 ni(l) FIG. 174. Mouth-parts of cater- 



' . pillar, a, antennae; the ocelli 



The Silk IS Spun through the placed outside; lb, labrum; 



. . Im, labium; mx, maxilla. 



tongue-like projection or the under After Burgess. 



lip (Fig. 174, s). It is secreted in two long sacs within 



