184 STATES OF INSECTS. (Larva.) 
quite clean and free from all viscidity*. It is probable 
that the other limaciform larveze are similarly circum- 
stanced. Madame Merian has figured an onisciform one, 
the legs of which, she says, are covered with a viscid 
skin : this produced a Noctua, F. Those of Morpho An- 
chises also are slimy, and adhere to each other?. 
vy. Amongst other qualities which attach to larvae, we 
must not omit to say something concerning their Colour. 
For though those which live in darkness in the earth, 
in wood, in fruits, &c. are, with few exceptions‘, of an 
uniform whitish colour, yet such as are exposed to the 
influence of the light are usually adorned with a vast 
variety of tints, sometimes the most vivid that can be 
imagined. That the white colour of the former may be 
attributed to the absence of light is proved by an expe- 
riment of M. Dorthes, who having forced some to live 
under glasses, exposed to the light, found that they gra- 
dually became brown’. To attempt any classification of 
coloured larvee would be in vain, since they are tinged 
with almost every possible shade that can be conceived, 
of many of which it would be difficult to find examples 
elsewhere; and infinitely diversified as to the arrangement 
and figure of their multiform markings and spots. A few 
general remarks, therefore, are all that you will expect 
on this head. Many are of one uniform colour; while a 
variety of tints, very different, and very vivid and distinct, 
ornament others. Sometimes they are distributed in 
* Natural History of the Slug-worm, 7. 
» Ins. Surinam. t. xv. Xvii. 
The larve of Carabus L. form one, being generally black. 
« Annales de Chimie ii. 
