INSECTS DIAGRAM 6. 



105 



Gnat, magnified. 



state; that which separates the first metamorphosis from the 

 second, is the pupa, nymph, or chrysalis state ; and the third state 

 is that of the imago or perfect insect. 



Larva state. In this state, insects have often the form of a 

 worm, and this name is applied 

 to them ; the larvae of butter- 

 flies are caterpillars ; the white 

 worm will become a cockchafer; 

 the maggot will become a flesh 

 fly : and thus with a number of 

 insects. 



The habits of larvse often 

 differ much from those of the 

 perfect insect which proceeds 

 from them. In the first place, 

 larvae never fly. There are many 

 larvas which live in water, while the 

 perfect insect is serial ; this is the 

 case, for instance, with the gnats. 

 Other larvae live underground, like 

 the white worm, while the cockchafer 

 lives in trees ; larvae do nothing but 

 eat, for almost all their lives, and the greater part are therefore 

 injurious to man. Larvse have a very variable number of legs, 

 sometimes none at all, like maggots. Lastly, they have frequent 

 moults according to their growth. 



Many larvse spin a cocoon like the silkworm, in which they 

 enclose themselves to undergo their first metamorphosis. 



Pupa or Chrysalis state. This state is that in which the silk- 

 worm is found in the cocoon when it 

 is opened before the moth emerges. 

 The silkworm is contracted together ; 

 it is generally of a brown colour 

 and it moves the rings of the hind 

 part of its body, which terminates Chrysalis. 



Larva of Gnat, magnified. 



