THE LARVA STATE. 179 



the situation of the eggs morning and evening, placing them 

 in the original cell at night, and on the board under the clod 

 during the day, as if she understood the evaporation to be so 

 great when the sun was up, that her eggs might be left too 

 dry before night. I regret to add, that during my absence 

 the glass had been moved and the mother escaped, having 

 carried away all her eggs but one or two, which soon shri- 

 velled up." De Geer was more fortunate, and, as I have 

 also repeatedly observed, noticed the care of the female in 

 defending her young when hatched. 



There are other insects whose attention is devoted to the 

 care of the eggs and the education of their young, especially 

 in the social species. When the period is arrived for the 

 hatching of the egg, the inclosed larva bursts through the 

 envelope, either by main force or by gnawing through it with 

 its jaws. Sometimes, however, one end of the egg is pro- 

 vided with a sort of cap, which is easily pushed open. 



II. The Larva. The insect has now arrived at an active 

 state of existence ; it is now that it is destined, in a more 

 special manner, to grow and to eat. It is to this state that the 

 ordinary terms caterpillar, grub, and maggot are generally 

 applied, in a manner so indefinite, that it is impossible, with 

 any pretension to correctness, to assign these terms to any 

 precise divisions of insects. In general, insects at this period 

 of their lives appear in the form of a cylindrical ringed, and 

 fleshy worm, provided generally with a distinct head and six 

 scaly legs attached to the anterior part of the body. The 

 head, however, in some species is not distinct, and the legs 

 are sometimes wanting ; whilst in others the terminal seg- 

 ments are furnished with membranous (false or pro-) legs. In 

 other species (the number of which is but comparatively 

 small), the insect nearly resembles its parents, being, how- 

 ever, destitute of wings. This variation naturally introduces 

 two principal divisions amongst insects, the former having a 



