786 



A HISTORY OF 



pair of gardener's shears ; and every morsel 

 is swallowed as soon as cut. Some caterpil- 

 lars feed upon leaves so very narrow, that 

 they are not broader than their mouths ; in 

 this case the animal is seen to devour it from 

 the point, as \ve would eat a radish. 



As there are various kinds of caterpillars, the 

 number of their feet are various; some having 

 eight, and some sixteen. Of these feet the six 

 foremost are covered with a sort of shining 

 gristle ; and are therefore called the shelly legs. 

 The hindmost feet, whatever be their number, 

 are soft and flexible, and are called membru- 

 naceous. Caterpillars also, with regard to 

 their external figure, are either smooth or 

 hairy. The skin of the first kind is soft to 

 the touch, or hard like shagreen ; the skin of 

 the latter is hairy, and as it were thorny ; and 

 generally, if handled, stings like nettles. 

 Some of them even cause this stinging pain if 

 but approached too nearly. 



Caterpillars, in general, have six small 

 black spots placed on the circumference of the 

 fore ring, and a little to the side of the head. 

 Three of these are larger than the rest, and 

 are convex and transparent : these Reaumur 

 takes to be the eyes of the caterpillar ; how- 

 ever, most of these reptiles have very little oc- 

 casion for sight, and seem only to be directed 

 by their feeling. 



But the parts of the caterpillar's body which 

 most justly demand our attention, are the 

 stigmata, as they are called ; or those holes 

 on. the sides of its body, through which the 

 animal is supposed to breath. All along this 

 insect's body, on each side, these holes are 

 easily discoverable. They are eighteen in 

 number, nine on a side, rather nearer the belly 

 than the back ; a hole for every ring, of which 

 the animal's body is composed, except the 

 second, the third, and the last. Tiiese oval 

 openings may be considered as so many 

 mouths, through which the insect breaths; 

 but with this difference, that as we have imc 

 one pair of lungs, the caterpillar has no less 

 than eighteen. It requires no great anatomi- 

 cal dexterity to discover these lungs in tbe lar- 

 ger kind of caterpillars : they appear, at first 

 view, to be hollow cartilaginous tubes, and of 

 the colour of mother-of-pearl. These tubes 

 are often seen to unite with each other ; some 

 are perceived to open into the intestines ; and 

 some go to different parts of the surface of the 



body. That thrsc vessels serve to convey the 

 air, appears evidently, from the famous ex- 

 periment of Malpighi ; who, by stopping up 

 the mouths of the stigmata with oil, quickly 

 suffocated the animal, which" was seen to die 

 convulsed the instont after. In order to as- 

 certain his theory, he rubbed oil upon other 

 parts of the insect's body, leaving the stigmai;* 

 free ; and this seemed to have no effect upon 

 the animal's health, but it continued to move 

 and oat as usual : he rubbed oil on the stigmata 

 of one- side, and the animal underwent a 

 partial convulsion, but recovered soon after. 

 However, it ought to be observed, that air is 

 not so necfssary to these as to the nobler ranks 

 of animals, since caterpillars will live in an 

 exhausted receiver for several days together: 

 and though they scern dead at the bottom, yet, 

 when taken out, recover, and resume their 

 former vivacity. 



If the caterpillar be cut open longitudinally 

 along the back, its intestines will be perceived 

 running directly in a straight line from the 

 mouth to the anus. They resemble a number 

 of small bags opening into each other; nd 

 strengthened on both sides by a fleshy cord, 

 by which they are united. These insects are, 

 upon many occasions, seen to cast forth the 

 internal coat of their intestines with their 

 food, in the changes which they so frequently 

 undergo. But the intestine^ take up but a 

 small part of the animal's body, if compared 

 to the fatty subatance in which they are in- 

 volved. The substance changes its colour 

 whan the insect's metamorphosis begins to ap- 

 proach ; aivi from white it is usually seen to 

 become yellow. If to these parts we add the 

 caterpillar's implements for spinning, (for all 

 caterpillars spin at one time or another,) we 

 shall have a rude sketch of this animal's con- 

 formation : however, we shall reserve the de- 

 scription of those parts, till we come to the his- 

 tory of the silk-worm, where the manner in 

 which thess insects spin their webs, will most 

 properly find a place. 



The life of a caterpillar seems one continued 

 succession of changes, and it is seen to throw 

 off one skin only to assume another ; which 

 also is divested \K its turn : and thus for eight 

 or ten times successively. We must not, bow- 

 ever, confound this changing of the skin with 

 the great metamorphosis which it is afterwards 

 to undergo. The throwing off one skin, and 



