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CHAP. XIII. 



INSECTS OF THE THIRD ORDER. 



OF CATERPILLARS, BUTTERFLIES, MOTHS, THE ENE- 

 MIES OF CATERPILLARS AND SILK-WORMS. 



CATERPILLARS may easily be distinguished from 

 worms or maggots by the number of their feet, and 

 by their producing butterflies or moths. In the second 

 order of insects, we have seen the grasshopper and the 

 earwig make but a trifling change in their form upon 

 assuming their wings ; but the caterpillar goes through 

 a perfect transformation, and, from a crawling reptile, 

 becomes one of the most beautiful of the insect tribe. 



Though the skin of the caterpillar is shed very fre- 

 quently, and the operation occasions the animal an in- 

 finity of pain, yet, after every change, the body retains 

 the same appearance, until the last transmutation is 

 about to take place. During winter, the greater num- 

 ber of this species remain in the egg-state which the 

 butterfly excludes, though some few of them continue 

 in a state of torpidity, until roused into animation by 

 the sun's vivifying heat. 



We are too well acquainted with the form of the ca- 

 terpillar to render a minute description of them of any 

 use ; but the number of their feet, in different kinds, 

 completely varies, as some have only eight, and others 

 sixteen. Their colour, and the texture of their skin, 

 likewise differ, as some are hairy, and others are en- 

 tirely smooth ; but all are destructive to the. vegetable 

 creation, which they devour by the assistance of very 

 sharp teeth. 



Though the caterpillar, during its reptile state, very 

 frequently exchanges the external coat in which it is 

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