140 



THE INSECT WORLD. 



idea of the shape of these organs, and of the hooks, circular or semi- 

 circular, with which they are furnished. 



In Fig. 96 are represented, after the same author, two mem- 



Fig. 95. Membranous legs of the Silkworm (Bombyx mart). 



branous legs of a large caterpillar, of which the hooks of the feet are 



fastened into a branch of a shrub. 



Caterpillars have from two to ten false legs, the scaly legs being 

 always six in number. The pro-legs, 

 as the fleshy ones are called, are 

 divided into hinder and intermediate. 

 The former are two in number ; the 

 intermediate are rarely more than 

 eight in number. 



In the caterpillars which have the 

 full number of legs that is to say, 

 sixteen there are two empty spaces, 

 where the body has no support : the 

 one between the legs and the pro- 

 legs, formed by the fourth and fifth 

 segment ; the other, between the 

 intermediate pro-legs and the anal 

 legs, formed by the tenth and 

 eleventh ring. 



The variations which caterpillars 

 present, so far as the number and 

 situations of their pro-legs are con- 

 cerned, are the following ; 

 The greatest number among them have ten pro-legs ; others have 



only eight ; others only six these may be called semi-loopers ; others 



Fig. 06. Membranous legs of a large 

 Caterpillar embracing a twig. 



