LARVAE. 



27 



Fig. 16. LARVA OF A GRASSHOPPER. 



the perfect insect except 

 that it is unprovided with 

 wings. The annexed 

 figure (16) of the larva 

 of a grasshopper illus- 

 trates this condition. 

 When it becomes a nym- 

 pha, we discover that it 

 has the stumps or rudi- 

 ments of wings ; at the 

 last moult they become 

 perfectly developed, and 

 the insect then acquires 

 the form it preserves 

 through life. 



56. The larva of those insects which undergo complete meta- 

 morphosis, in no respect resembles the imago or perfect animal, 

 and in proof of this it is only 

 necessary to recollect that the but- 

 terfly escapes from its egg in the 

 form of a caterpillar. Larvas 

 (fgs. 17 and 18) are in general 

 soft, cylindrical, or fusiform, pre- 

 senting at intervals a number of 

 contractions which divide the body 

 into as many rings or segments. 

 Sometimes they have the appear- 

 ance of a worm, and are unpro- 

 vided with legs, as in the larva of the bee ; in other instances, 

 they have appendages of this kind (fig' 18), and then they are 

 generally called caterpil- 

 lars. These animals have 

 a head provided with jaws, 

 several small eyes, very 

 short legs, six of which are 

 scaly and pointed, and 

 attached to the three rings 



next to the head ; they have also other legs, varying in number, 

 which are membranous and attached to the last rings of the body. 

 After having lived for a certain time in the larva state, the insect 

 bscomes transformed into a nympha, and is then motionless, and 



56. What are the general characters of larvae? What are cater- 

 pillars? How does the larva prepare to become a nympha? What arc 



Fig. 



17. LARVA. MEASURING 

 WORM. 



Fig. 18. LARVA. SILK- WORM. 



