OF THE SKFXETON. 137 



stages of an insect's life, and we see it much more dis- 

 tinctly in a larva than in a perfect insect ; and here it will 

 be proper to observe, that the sliin or covering /«k 



which has subsequently to become so corneous ^ . .r~^ "^ 



and solid that the term skin seems almost theo- ^i ~i 



retical, is generally in larvae, thin, soft and flex- 

 ible, in an equal degree with that of animals 

 possessing the more obvious support of an inter- 

 nal skeleton. The figure in the margin is in- 

 tended to show the segments in the larva of a 

 large beetle, each separated from its neighbours 

 in order that the division may be more clearly 

 exemplified. In the caterpillar of the emperor 

 moth, at page 130, the same segmental division 

 is equally manifest, with the exception that the 

 segments are there represented imited, as in a w-C^^ 

 state of nature. The caterpillar of the spurge y- -^P 

 hawk-moth, at page 90, is another exemplifi- 



Elater. 



cation of the same structure, the divisions bemg 

 less manifest, but still to be traced ; the thirteenth segment, 

 or that posterior to the horn, being the only one not distinct- 

 ly defined. See also the larva of the cricket, at page 73 ; of 

 the sexton beetle, at page 53 ; of the bee, at page 40, &c. 

 In examining larvae, the young entomologist should pay 

 particular attention to certain prehensile appendages erro- 

 neously called legs, and more correctly false legs : the 

 absence, presence, number and situation of these, has 

 been so correctly observed by entomological writers, that 

 the genus of a moth or saw-fly may frequently be correctly 

 given by a careful inspection of its larva. In the figure 

 of the privet hawk-moth, at page 82, these false legs alone 

 are used to hold it to the twig on which it is standing, the 

 six real legs being unemployed : this is the usual and 

 natural position of the insect when at rest : when eating 



