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CHAPTER III. 



GEOMETRY 



THE large and important group of GEOMETRY, or 

 LOOPERS, now come before us. These appropriate 

 terms are applied to the Moths on account of the mode 

 of progression adopted by the larva. The caterpillars 

 are so constructed that they cannot walk after the 

 usual fashion of such beings. The reader will re- 

 member that the caterpillars hitherto mentioned have a 

 number of false legs, or claspers arranged on the under 

 side of the body, in addition to the six true legs which 

 are situated on that part of the body which will after- 

 wards become the thorax of the perfect insect. Most 

 caterpillars have five pairs of these claspers, but the 

 Geometra larvae have only two pairs, which are set 

 closely together at the very end of the body. The 

 caterpillar is therefore obliged to adopt a peculiar mode 

 of progression. 



When it wishes to move, it clings very firmly with 

 its true legs, loosens the grasp of its claspers, and draws 

 them close to the legs, so that its body is brought into 

 an arch or loop. The claspers then fix themselves 

 tightly to the object on which the caterpillar is moving, 

 and the body is stretched out in order to find a fresh 



