INTRODUCTION. 67 



as are laid late in autumn, do not produce their cater- 

 pillars till the ensuing spring. To facilitate the egress 

 of the young larvae, the eggs of some species are 

 furnished with a kind of lid at one end, which is 

 pushed outwards by the pressure of the head. 



Guided by an instinct which must excite the ad- 

 miration'of every reflecting mind, the butterfly, how- 

 ever herself regardless of such pasture, never fails to 

 place her eggs either upon the plant which is to af- 

 ford sustenance to her infant progeny, or in its im- 

 mediate vicinity ; so that, upon their first exclusion, 

 they are surrounded by their appropriate food. Up- 

 on issuing from the egg, the young larvae appear as 

 small cylindrical worms ; hut their growth is ra- 

 pid, and no very lengthened period elapses before 

 they attain their full dimensions. It is in this state 

 that they are termed caterpillars-, a name which they 

 probably owe to their voracious habits.* They are 

 the most destructive of all the smaller animals to 

 living vegetation, and their ravages are sometimes so 

 extensive, as not only to occasion considerable loss 

 to the gardener and agriculturist, but even to render 



* The origin of this word is not very obvious, but it no 

 doubt refers to their destructive propensities. The most 

 probable derivation is that which assigns it to the two old 

 French words, acat, food or provisions, more recently writ 

 ten cates, as in Paradise Lost, 



alas ! how simple to these cates 



Was the crude apple that diverted Eve ! 

 and piller, to rob or plunder, whence also we have the word 

 pillage 



