THE LAKVi? 23 



4. Clothing. — Under this head might be considered the 

 various kinds of covering with which the bodies of many 

 of the larvso are clad ; some are quite smooth or naked, 

 or furnished merely with little granular elevations regu- 

 larly arranged along the body, but many are clothed with 

 hairs or bristles of different kinds arranged in lines or 

 clusters, or with spines or tubercles of various shapes. 

 Sometimes these tubercles themselves are armed at their 

 extremity with tufts of hairs or spines. These bristles, or 

 hairs, furnish some of the most beautiful objects for the 

 compound microscope. Some of them resemble wool or 

 rows of Httle camel-hair pencils, others are feathered like 

 the plumes of a bird, or resemble little rows of turquois 

 beads surmounted with a black plume. Other hairs ter- 

 minate in a club, or are flat and thickened at the apex. 

 Some are rough, with little points or prickles, in circles 

 or in spirals around them, while a few are composed of a 

 series of little conical pieces placed end to end, and termi- 

 nated with a point resembling the head of a pike, or with 

 forked or star-shaped clusters. The outside skin or epi- 

 dermis of the larva, through which these hairs or spines 

 project, also furnish beautiful objects for the microscope. 

 Some, however, clothe themselves with a viscid mucus 

 covering, which they secrete in little glands between the 

 rings, and thus fit themselves for the peculiarities of the 

 life they are intended to lead. 



5. The Color of LarvcB changes with the place they 

 occupy and their age. Those that live in dark and 

 gloomy places are of correspondingly sombre shades, 

 while those that hve in the briglit sunlight are decorated 

 with the greatest variety of tints and markings. These 

 colors are sometimes of moment in distinguishing the> 



