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. 96.— Membranous legs of a large 

 Caterpillar embracing a twig. 



