NUMBER IV 

 CATERPILLARS 



THE sight of the first butterflies is always 

 gladdening, for it means that summer is 

 setting in. Most of these early butterflies have 

 spent the winter as chrysalids or pupse, hidden 

 away in sheltered retreats. They emerge and 

 pair ; the females lay their eggs ; these develop 

 into the caterpillars which are often so abundant 

 in the summer months. 



Structure of a Caterpillar 



A typical caterpillar the larva of a butterfly 

 or a moth shows a hard polished head and a body 

 of thirteen rings. The head is strengthened by a 

 median shield and two side-plates bearing half a 

 dozen simple eyes and minute three-jointed feelers 

 in marked contrast to the large compound eyes 

 and long feelers of the adults. In the service of 

 the mouth there are three pairs of minute jaws, on 

 the third of which there is in many cases a spinneret 

 from which a jet of liquid silk flows out, hardening 

 in a moment into a thread. The caterpillars use 

 the silk to attach themselves to twigs, to save 

 themselves when they are about to fall, to lower 

 themselves from a branch to the ground, and to 

 make a cocoon for the period of their great change. 



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