376 INTRODUCTION TO 



which serves as an egg-shell, and often begins life by eating 

 it. This is the larva. It is usually hatched from an egg, 

 but sometimes is produced alive (as some fly- 

 maggots, or Aphides during the summer 

 months). When it is coloured and has many 

 feet, it is usually called a caterpillar ; white 

 fleshy larvae, such as those of many Beetles 

 or Flies, are commonly known as grubs or 

 maggots ; such as resemble the parent insect 

 are usually known by the name of this 

 insect; but the term of "worm" or "slug" 

 is objectionable, as it leads to confusion. 

 Larvae differ very much in appearance : 

 Eggs (mag.) of gome are legless, cylindrical, or blunt at the 

 "^^Beetle. ^^^^> ^^'^^ tapering at the head end, with the 



head (which is soft and furnished with hooks 

 by way of feeding aj)paratus) capable of being drawn some way 

 back into the maggot ; many Fly-maggots are of this kind. Some 

 larvae are legless or with the mere rudiments of a pair of legs 

 on each of the three rings behind the head, Heshy, smallest at 

 the tail, and furnished with distinct head and jaws ; such are 

 some kinds of Beetle- and Wasp-grubs ; others are strong and 

 fat, a few inches in length, with three pairs of legs well 

 developed — as the Cockchafer grub.* 



Caterpillar of Goat Moth. 



The caterpillars of the Butterflies and Moths are often 

 beautifully marked, and have for the most part a pair of arti- 

 culated feet on each of the three segments behind the head, 

 and pairs of fleshy appendages called sucker-feet on some of 

 the other segments and at the end of the tail, not exceeding 

 sixteen in all. These " sucker-feet " enable the caterpillars to 

 hold firmly to the twigs they frequent. Proceeding onwards 

 still by number of feet, the caterpillars of the Sawflies will be 

 found in almost every case (Corn Sawfly, C.2>i/fimm(s, excepted) 

 to have, besides the three pairs of true feet, five, six, or seven 

 pairs of sucker-feet, and also the pair at the end of the tail 

 (known as the caudal pro-leg). 



* For examples of different forms of larvtc and impa, the student is recom- 

 mended to examine the figures of insects in their various stages given in the 

 preceding pages, and also in the following illustrated notes of the main dis- 

 tinctions between the different Orders of Insects. 



