78 INTRODUCTION TO 



sent remarks are of a more general nature, and ap- 1 

 plicable to the whole. 



The majority of larvse have a vermiform appear- 

 ance, the body being long, narrow, and inclining to 

 cylindric. Such as present this aspect are the kinds 

 which differ most conspicuously from the perfect 

 insect ; the others differ only in parts which are not 

 influential over the general appearance. An obvious 

 division of larvae, therefore, is into such as are 

 wholly unlike the perfect insect, and such as bear a 

 greater or less resemblance to it. They are all des- 

 titute of wings, and have the common character of 

 being unfitted to propagate the species. 



Some attempts have been made to classify larvae 

 in a manner similar to that followed with perfect 

 insects. These have not, however, been attended 

 with much success, both on account of the inherent 

 difficulties of the subject, and our comparatively 

 imperfect acquaintance with insects in that condition. 

 Mr. MacLeay was the first who endeavoured to 

 divide them into groups, to which he assigned names 

 suggested by the analogy which they presented to 

 other articulated animals. Thus, for example, he 

 names Chilognathiform, such larvae as offer certain 

 analogical forms reminding us of scolopendrae ; Chilo- 

 podiform, those resembling juli; and those resem- 

 bling lepisma he terms Thysanouriform. This author 

 applied his system to the larvae of coleoptera only ; 

 Kirby and Spence adopted the idea and extended 

 it to the other orders ; and it has been more or less 



