STATES OF INSECTS. (Larva.) 187 
marked to me, that the skin of that of Sphinx Ligustri, 
after being under eround four days, was changed from a 
vivid green to a dull red. Very rarely, however, it be- 
comes of a more brilliant hue just before entering the 
pupa state: thus, that of another hawk-moth (Smerznthus 
Tilie) changes to a bright violet; and the yellow hairs 
of that of Dasychira pudibunda then become of a lovely 
rose colour. And here I may observe, that the hairs and 
spines also, of larvae, vary greatly in colour. They are 
to be met with brown, black, red, yellow, violet, white, 
&c. De Geer found, that in the larva of Cimbea nitens 
the two sides of the body were of a different colour, the 
left being of a deep green, whilst the right side and the 
rest of the body were paler*; but as he saw only a single 
individual, this was probably an accidental circumstance. 
Though the caterpillars, as I lately said, of one of the 
most beautiful butterflies and moths that inhabit Britain 
contend with the perfect insect in loveliness, yet in ge- 
neral no judgement can be formed of the beauty of the 
future fly from the colour of the larva; and the young 
Aurelian must not flatter himself always with the hope, 
because the caterpillar excites admiration by its colours 
and their arrangement, that the butterfly or moth it is to 
produce will do the same; nor ought he to despise and 
overlook a sombre or plain-coloured individual of the 
former, under the idea that it will produce one equally 
plain of the latter ; for it often happens that the splendid 
caterpillar gives a plain butterfly or moth, and vice versd. 
De Geer, however, gives us two instances of conformity 
between the colours of the caterpillar and those of the 
future moth; the one is that of the common currant- 
* i. 1017. 
