ELEMENTARY STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE 



FIG. 14. Newly hatched cater- 

 pillar of the black swallowtail 

 on flower-stern of wild parsley. 

 Enlarged. 



When first this larva measures itself upon the flower- 

 stalk it is three-twenty-fifths of an inch long, three 



times the diameter of the egg 

 from which it came. After 

 stretching itself and resting a 

 moment it turns around and 

 makes its first meal off its 

 shell, not prompted so much 

 by hunger as by the protective 

 instinct which leads it to en- 

 deavor to remove all traces 

 likely to lead to its discovery 

 by an enemy. 



As it stretches itself out again, study it under the 

 hand-lens. It has the normal number of segments, 

 twelve besides 

 the head. Each 

 segment has six 

 p r o t u b erances, 

 and from each of 

 these in turn 

 grow five or six 

 hairs, making in all a rather bristling little crea- 

 ture. The first three segments of the body, known as 

 the thorax, have true jointed legs, each with a horny 

 claw for grasping the supporting twig; the sixth, sev- 

 enth, eighth, ninth and twelfth have each a pair of 

 soft unjointed legs, or pads known as prolegs, aids 

 in locomotion and in maintaining position " when the 

 Avind blows." 



Its purposes, intuitions and instincts have been 

 placed in verse. 



FIG. 15. Diagram showing normal number of seg- 

 ments in a caterpillar. 



