MOTHS. 339 



while those of the other sex are not feathered at all, or 

 only furnished with very short projections, like teeth, at the 

 sides. Most moths have a sucking-tube, commonly called 

 the tongue, consisting of two hollow and tapering threads, 

 united side by side, and when not in use rolled up in a 

 spiral form ; but in many this member is very short, and 

 its two threads are not united ; and in some it is en- 

 tirely wanting, or is reduced to a mere point. Two palpi 

 or feelers are found in most moths. They grow from the 

 lower lip, generally curve upwards, and cover the face on 

 each side of the tongue. Some have, besides these, another 

 pair, which adhere to the roots of the tongue. Many moths 

 are said to have no feelers ; these parts being in them very 

 small, and invisible to the naked eye. 



The caterpillars of these insects differ more from each 

 other than the moths. In general they are of a cylindrical 

 shape, and are provided with sixteen legs ; there are many, 

 however, which have only ten, twelve, or fourteen legs ; 

 and in a few the legs are so very short as hardly to be 

 visible, so that these caterpillars seem to glide along in the 

 manner of slugs. Some caterpillars are naked, and others 

 are clothed with hairs or bristles, and the hairs are either 

 uniformly distributed, or grow in tufts. Sometimes the 

 surface of the body is even and smooth ; sometimes it is 

 covered with little warts or tubercles ; or it is beset with 

 prickles and spines, which not unfrequently are compound 

 or branched. 



Many caterpillars, previous to their transformation, en- 

 close themselves in cocoons, composed entirely of silk, or 

 of silk interwoven with hairs stripped from their own bodies, 

 or with fragments of other substances within their reach. 

 Some go into the ground, where they are transformed 

 without the additional protection of a cocoon ; others change 

 to chrysalids in the interior of the stems, roots, leaves, 

 or fruits of plants. The chrysalids of moths are generally 

 of an elongated oval shape, rounded at one end, and tapering 



