THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 1 ^ l 



But this could never be, for an insect which has 

 attained its complete form ceases to grow. And I must 

 now explain the meaning of " its complete form." You 

 must know, then, that when an insect first comes out of 

 the egg it is quite different from what it is intended at 

 a future time to become. It is at first called a Grub, a 

 Maggot, or a Caterpillar, according to the tribe to which 

 it belongs. Linnasus* called the animal at this stage the 

 Larva or mask, because it seems as if the form of 

 the caterpillar was a mask to the complete insect. 

 During this period the animal seems to do nothing but 

 eat, changing its skin several times ; and any one who 

 has seen a cabbage garden, when the green caterpillar 

 has taken a fancy to it, and has literally eaten all but 

 the mere stalks ; or any boy who has kept silkworms (for 

 these are caterpillars and not worms), and has observed 

 the speed with which they dispatch the leaves provided 

 for them, will be quite aware of their appetite. During 

 this period they increase greatly in size, and the caterpillar 

 of the butterfly or moth spins a covering of silk over its 

 body, and, wrapped in a leaf, suspends itself by a single 

 thread ; in fact, it sometimes buries itself in the earth. In 

 this stage they are called the Pupa or- Chrysalis. The 

 first name means " a baby," because they look so much 

 like babies tied up in what used to be called " swaddling 

 clothes," in those days when infants were wrapped up 

 thus ; and chrysalis is a Greek word, referring to the 

 bright or golden colour of some of them. Gnats do not, 

 however, wrap up after this fashion, but pass their infancy 

 in the water ; and Crickets and such like are as active 

 as ever. 



At the end of the second period the chrysalis throws off 

 its skin and emerges as the Imago, or perfect insect, 



* Linnaeus, Karl von, one of the greatest of naturalists, was born in Sweden 

 in 1707, and died in 1778. 



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