LEPIDOPTERA, 275 
Some caterpillars with fourteen or sixteen feet, but of which some of 
the intermediate membranous ones are shorter than the others, have 
been called pseudo-geometre. The membranous feet are frequently 
terminated by a more or less complete crown of little hooks. 
The body of these larvae are generally elongated, almost cylin- 
drical, soft, variously coloured, sometimes naked, and sometimes 
covered with hairs, tubercles aud spines. It is composed of twelve 
segments or annuli, exclusive of the head, with nine stigmata on each 
side. Their head is invested with a corneous or squamous dermis, and 
presents on each side six shining granules, which appear to be ocelli; 
it is also furnished with two very short and conical antenne, and a 
mouth composed of strong mandibles, two maxillze, a labium, and four 
small palpi. The silk they employ is elaborated in two long and 
tortuous internal vessels, of which the attenuated superior extremi- 
ties terminate in the lip. A tubular and conical mamilla is the 
spindle through which the threads are spun. 
Most caterpillars feed on the leaves of plants; some gnaw their 
flowers, roots, buds, and seeds; others attack the ligneous. or hardest 
part of trees, softening it by means of a fluid which they disgorge. 
Certain species attack our woollens and furs, thereby doing us much 
injury: even our leather, bacon, wax, and lard are not spared by 
them. Several confine themselves exclusively to a single article of 
diet; others are less delicate, and devour all sorts of matters *. 
Some of them form societies, and frequently live under a silken 
tent, spun by them in common, which even shelters them during the 
winter. Several construct- sheaths for themselves, either fixed or 
portable. Others make their abode in the parenchyma of leaves, 
where they form galleries. The greater number are diurnal. The 
others never issue forth but at night. The severity of winter, so 
fatal to almost all Insects, does not affect certain Phaleene, which 
only appear in that season. 
Caterpillars usually change their skin four times, previously to 
passing into the state of a nywph or chrysalis. Most of them spin a 
cocoon in which they enclose themselves. A frequently reddish 
liquor or sort of meconium, which Lepidopterous Insects eject per 
anum, at the moment of their metamorphosis, softens or weakens the 
extremity of the cocoon, and facilitates their exit; one of these 
extremities also is generally thinner than the other, or presents a 
favourable issue, by the peculiar disposition of the fibres. Other 
* One of the most evident proofs of the Divine Providence is the perfect coin- 
cidence of the appearance of the caterpillar with that of the plant on which it is 
to feed. 
