1 64 ROUND THE YEAR 



for special reasons, as in Geometer larvae, the legs of 

 all Lepidopterous caterpillars have the same number 

 and disposition. 



When I have examined the outward appearance 

 of an Insect, I like to anatomise it, and here comes 

 the chief interest. Just as, in the words of Tony 

 Lumpkin, the inside of the letter is always the cream 

 of the correspondence, so the inside of the Insect is 

 the best part of its structure. I should like very well 

 to talk about the things which can be seen in a 

 caterpillar by the dissecting microscope, the air-tubes, 

 the nerve-cord, the heart, the digestive tube and the 



FlG. 52. Larva of Small Cabbage White, X 2. After Buckler. 



reproductive organs. It is worth while to note that 

 fresh-hatched larvae are already male or female. 

 During the whole larval period the reproductive organs 

 slowly increase in size and complexity, and when the 

 change to the pupa takes place, they are often, to the 

 eye of the anatomist, perfectly formed. But this is 

 hardly the place to describe in detail things which 

 can only be followed with the scalpel and lens, and I 

 will say no more about the anatomy of the larva. 



The larva changes its skin four, or sometimes five 

 times, the last change being that which "we call 

 pupation. Then the last larval skin is cast, and the 

 pupa is disclosed. In the preceding changes of skin 



