290 MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 



Amongst those that walk^ some are remarkable for 

 the slowness of their motion, while others are extremely 

 swift. The caterpillar of the hawk-moth of the Fili- 

 pendula {Zygana Filipenduke^ F.) is of the former de- 

 scription, moving- in the most leisurely manner; while 

 that o^Bomhi/x leporina, F., a moth unknown in Britain, 

 is named after the hare, from its great speed. The ca- 

 terpillar of another moth, the species of which seems 

 not to be ascertained, is celebrated by De Geer for the 

 wonderful celerity of its motions. When touched it 

 darts away backwards as well a^ forwards, giving its 

 body an undulating- motion with such force and rapi- 

 dity, that it seems to fly from side to side**. — Cuvier 

 observes, that the grubs of some coleopterous and neu- 

 ropterous insects, which have only the six perfect legs, 

 by means of them lay hold of any surrounding object, 

 and, fixing themselves to it, drag the rest of their body 

 to that point; and that those of many Capricorn beetles 

 and their aflinities (but that of Callidium violaceum is 

 an apode**) have these legs excessively minute and al- 

 most nothing; that they move in the sinuosities which 

 they bore by the assistance of their mandibles, with 

 which they fix themselves, and i^lso of several dorsal 

 and ventral tubercles, by which they are supported 

 against the sides of their cavity, and push themselves 

 along, in the same manner as a chimney-sweeper — by 

 the pressure of his knees, elbows, shoulder-blades, 

 and other prominent parts — pushes himself up a chim- 

 ney''. The larva of the ant-lion {Mijrmdeori) — with the 

 exception of one species, which moves in the common 



• De Geer, i. 424. •* Kii bj in Lim. Tnms. v. 238. 



" Anatom. Gomp. i. 430. 



