182 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



manner, although it can run with sufficient swift- 

 ness when necessary. It creeps forward with the 

 greatest stealth, moving only one leg at a time, 

 and thus quite insensibly approaches its victim, 

 who is not at all alarmed at what merely appears 

 to be a lump of dust. Soon, however, it is con- 

 vinced of its fatal mistake, and discovers the 

 terrible fact that it is in the embrace of an un- 

 sparing devourer. 



Other Iarva3 escape notice in a singular manner, 

 by their close resemblance to little pieces of stick. 

 Thus, we are told by Messrs. Kirby and Spence, 

 that " there is a certain tribe of caterpillars called 

 surveyors (Geometrci), that will sometimes support 

 themselves, for whole hours, by means of their 

 posterior legs, solely upon their hinder extremity, 

 forming an angle, of various degrees, with the 

 branch on which they are standing, and look- 

 ing like one of its twigs. The body is kept 

 stiff and immovable, with the separations of the 

 segments scarcely visible ; it terminates in a knob, 

 the legs being applied close, so as to resemble a 

 bud at the end of a twig ; besides which, it often 

 exhibits intermediate tubercles, which increase the 

 resemblance. Its colour, too, is usually obscure, 



