110 STATES OF INSECTS. (Larva.) 
orders, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, 
the majority of the Neuwroptera, Coccus and Aleyrodes in 
Hemiptera, and the genus Pulex in Aptera,—I shall ad- 
vert to their characters, under several distinct heads; and 
to avoid unnecessary circumlocution, I shall in what fol- 
lows wholly leave out of consideration the jirst division 
already explained, and use the term darva with reference 
only to those of the second. The heads under which I 
propose to treat of them are: The substance of their body, 
its parts, shape, or figure, clothing, colour. Also the 
Economy or mode of life of these creatures: their food, 
moultings, growth, age, sex, and their preparations for as- 
suming the Pupa. 
i. Substance. With the exception of the head and six 
fore-feet, which are usually corneous, the exterior inte- 
gument or skin of larvee is commonly of a membranous 
texture, and the body is of a much softer consistence 
than in the perfect insect. In those, however, of some 
Staphylinide and other Coleoptera, the dorsal part of 
the three first pieces, which represent the trunk of the 
perfect insect, is hard and horny. Some also have their 
whole skin coriaceous, as the tortoise-shell butterfly 
(Vanessa polychloros) ; and some few, as the wire-worm 
(Elater segetum), and other Elateres, very hard. I pos- 
sess a very remarkable larva from Brazil, from the ex- 
treme flatness of its body, and from its having cavities to 
receive its lees when unemployed, probably living under 
bark, the skin of which is still harder than that of the 
grub of the Elaters. Perhaps it has to resist great 
pressure; and on that account is gifted with this quality, 
so seldom to be met with in other kinds of larvae. ‘The 
