CHAPTER II. 



HABITS OF THE LARVA. 



GENERALLY, for a little while after the larva 

 has emerged from the shell, it is in a very weak 

 and languid condition. The effort of extricating 

 itself from its little prison-house, seems to leave 

 it almost without strength ; and for a period 

 which varies in different insects, it lies help- 

 less and almost motionless at the mercy of any 

 wandering adversary, and might be demolished 

 without resistance. But this hour of weakness, 

 except in a few cases, is not prolonged. In the 

 course of an hour or two, or even much less in 

 some instances, the larva revives, takes heart, and 

 begins by eating whatever food may happen to 

 lie in its way; and now the larva becomes a 

 terror to the world of insects, or even, indirectly, 

 to man and to nations. Instead of simply eating, 

 in order to live, like most other beings, it only lives 



