134 STATES OF INSECTS. (Larva.) 
several Coleoptera, as those of Dytiscus, Staphylinus, 
Coccinella, &c., they more resemble the legs of the per- 
fect insect, the joints being more elongated, and the 
femoral one projecting beyond the body 3. 
You will find no other than true legs in most. Coleo- 
pterous, Neuropterous, and Hymenopterous larve. But 
those of the saw-flies and all caterpillars, have besides a 
number of prolegs : a few Dipterous larvee also, are pro- 
vided with some organs nearly analogous to them. These 
prolegs are fleshy, commonly conical or cylindrical, and 
sometimes retractile protuberances, usually attached by 
pairs to the underside of that part of the body that re- 
presents the abdomen of the future fly®. They vary in 
conformation and in number; some having but one, others 
as many as eighteen. 
With regard to their conformation, they may be di- 
vided into two principal sections: first, those furnished 
with terminal claws; and secondly, those deprived of 
them. Each of which may be divided into smaller sec- 
tions, founded on the general figure of the prolegs, and 
arrangement of the claws or hooks. 
i. The prolegs of almost all Lepidopterous larvee 
are furnished with a set of minute slender horny hooks, 
crotchets, or claws, of different lengths, somewhat re- 
sembling fish-hooks; which either partially or wholly 
her web. Reaum. ii. 258. In the larva of a geometer (Geometra lu- 
naria) the third pair are remarkably long. Illig. Mag. 402. In that 
of another moth, according to Kuhn (Naturf. xvi. 78. t. iv. f. 3), the 
third pair of the fore-legs is remarkably incrassated, being twice as 
thick and long as the other pair, though consisting of the same num- 
ber of joints, the last of which has claws. 
* On the legs and prolegs see also what is said above, Vot. II. 
p. 286—. 
» In some few instances these legs are dorsal. Ibid, 281. 
