400 ORDERS OP PTILOTA. 



their fixed and outstretched position, for a great length of 

 time, by means of the prodigious muscular power which they 

 possess. In fact, according to Lyonnet, in the caterpillar of 

 the goat-moth (Cossus liyniperda), there are more than four 

 thousand muscles. 



Caterpillars are, for the most part, vegetable feeders, some 

 feeding upon leaves, often causing great destruction, as in 

 the case of the little green Tortrix which infests the oak, some- 

 times stripping it entirely of leaves. The cabbage caterpillars, 

 and those of the brown-tailed moths, may also be mentioned : 

 others devour flowers, roots, buds, and seeds; whilst a few feed 

 upon the ligneous particles of trees, boring (as in the case of 

 the goat-moth, &c.) through the stems, and sometimes even 

 completely destroying them when in a young state ; others, 

 again, feed upon cloth, furs, &c., of which the caterpillar of the 

 clothes-moth, one of our most destructive domestic enemies, 

 is an example; whilst a few devour lard, wax, and other fatty 

 matters, as in the Galleriae : some species are confined to a 

 single plant, whilst others, as the garden-tiger moth, will thrive 

 upon many different sorts ; some species, again, are found in a 

 state of society, as is especially the case with the small 

 ermine moths and the processionary caterpillars : these spin 

 a common web, which serves to protect them during incle- 

 ment weather. Others, again, take a similar precaution, 

 although solitary in their habits, as is the case with many 

 small Tinea, Psyche, Fumea, and in the large exotic Oiketi- 

 cus, all of which form portable mantles, or cases, in \vliieh 

 the caterpillars reside, and in which they become pup;c. 

 Many species of the minute and gilt Tinea reside within the 

 body of different leaves, feeding upon the parenchyma, and 

 forming slender tortuous passages. Many caterpillars feed 

 by night : the majority, however, are day insects. 



These caterpillars, for the most part, shed their skins four 

 different times previous to becoming chrysalides : they then 



