LARV.E. 11 



The growth of a grub before hatching may be 

 watched by takmg an egg, partly advanced to- 

 wards maturity, and laying it on the 

 stage of a microscope. If j^ou get 

 a transparent one, such as that of 

 the Turnip-blossom Beetle (JSIeli- 

 gethes ceneus), you will be able to 

 see the grub within growing, day 

 by day, until it gradually bursts the 

 thin skin of the egg, and walks out 

 of it as a complete grub, with claw- 

 feet, head, and jaws. Thus the history 

 may be shown so far : we may find ""^ *" „ 

 eggs within the female, see them laid, i^g^^)' of Turnip- 

 see the larva grow within them, and blossom Beetle, 

 see it step out of them, often, if not 

 always, ready to attack its appointed food, whether 

 vegetable or animal, — in some cases a live specimen 

 of its own kind. 



Larvce — that is to say, insects in their first stages — 

 may be divided into two 

 kinds. One kind, such as 

 Locusts, Crickets, Earwigs, 

 Aphides, and some others, 

 are very like the perfect in- 

 sect, to which they will pre- 

 sently change, in all respects, ^^ " ■-^<;^;*'^^i4:^ 



excepting being smaller, in ^ .^ ^ , t , 



,i „'= . ^ . . '. Fig. 10.— Larva of Locust. 



gradually mcreasmg m size, 

 and in being wingless. The 



other kind, which we know as maggots, grubs, or 

 caterpillars, are quite unlike the Beetles, or Wasps, or 

 Flies, or Moths, or other insects, to which they will 

 change in due time. The general appearance of these 

 dissimilay lnYYie is well-known, and many figures of 

 them will be found in the following pages. 



They may be said to be usually long, narrow, soft, 

 and cylindrical ; the rings, or successive segments of 

 which they are formed, often show very plainly ; the 



