62 ON PLANTS AND INSECTS. [LECT. 



therefore all subject to very similar conditions, are all 

 very much alike. It would puzzle even a good naturalist 

 to determine the species of an ant larva, while, as we 

 all know, the caterpillars of butterflies and moths are 

 as easy to distinguish as the perfect insects ; they differ 

 from one another as much as, sometimes more than, the 

 butterflies and moths themselves. 



There are five principal types of coloring among 

 caterpillars. Those which live inside wood, or leaves, 

 or underground, are generally of a uniform pale hue ; 

 the small leaf-eating caterpillars are green, like the leaves 

 on which they feed. The other three types may, to 

 compare small things with great, be likened to the 

 three types of coloring among cats. There are the ground 

 cats, such as the lion or puma, which are brownish or 

 sand color, like the open places they frequent. So also 

 caterpillars which conceal themselves by day at the 

 roots of their food -plant tend, as we have seen, even if 

 originally green, to assume the color of earth. Nor 

 must I omit to mention the Geometridce, to which I have 

 already referred, and which, from their brown color, 

 their peculiar attitudes, and the frequent presence of 

 warts or protuberances, closely mimic bits of dry stick. 

 That the caterpillars of these species were originally 

 green, we may infer from the fact that some of them 

 at least are still of that color when first born. Then 

 there are the spotted or eyed cats, such as the leopard, 

 which live among trees ; and their peculiar coloring 

 renders them less conspicuous by simulating spots of 

 light which penetrate through foliage. So also many 

 caterpillars are marked with spots, eyes, or patches of 

 color. Lastly, there are the jungle cats, of which the 



