38 INTRODUCTION. 



add some details regarding the perfect insect. The first stirps in order has been 

 denominated Vermiform, and if my views are correct, it is the most simple, both in 

 tlie larva and imago state. In the circle of Ametabola, Mr. Macleay likewise con- 

 siders the vermes, which consist of the Epizoaria of Lamark and the Entozoa 

 Nematoidea of Rudolplii, as having the least complicated structure. The distin- 

 guishing characters of this stirps are an oblong body, attenuated at both ends, in 

 some cases depressed or slightly convex, in others cylindrico-gibbous, appearing to 

 consist of numerous scuta or shields, distinctly divided by transverse strife, having a 

 small retractile head, and very short scarcely perceptible feet, which are often 

 concealed by the projecting scuta of the body. This form evidently indicates a 

 strongly marked analogical resemblance to many of the vermes; but it is remarkable 

 that the character of the osculant group, in the neighbouring circle of Crustacea, 

 shows itself in many of these larvae ; this will suggest, in the progress of the work, 

 some important obsei-vations on the analogical relations of the other tribes of this 

 order. The genera among the Crustacea, in immediate contact with the Ametabola, 

 are Oniscus, Armadillo, and Asellus. The resemblance of the larvae of the vermiform 

 stirps to these is indicated by their familiar names : Onisciform larvae, Chenilles- 

 Cloportes, Jsselformige-Raupen, Sec. This larva occurs in Europe in the genera, 

 Polyommatus, Lyca;na and Thecla, or in the Blues, Coppers and Hairstreaks of our 

 British nomenclature ; and the three divisions of the Vermiform larvae, which are 

 established in the Wiener Verzeichnis, correspond with the groups indicated by these 

 genera. They constitute the families M, N, O, of that work, named according to the 

 modifications of the larvae : viz. Oblongoscutatce, Gibboscutatw, and Depressoscutatce. 

 I have observed in Java five varieties of the metamorphosis of this stirps, which 

 belong to the genera above-mentioned, and indicate some modifications of the 

 perfect insect ; they will be referred to and described at large in the course of the 

 work. They are represented in the order of their affinity on the fourth plate, in 

 figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. They are more diversified in their external appearance 

 than the European larvEe of this stirps hitherto observed, and the corresponding 

 modifications in the perfect insect will be the subject of future remarks. But 

 many observations are still requii'ed to complete the deficiencies in the series. 

 Of the subjects which are represented on the diagram, for the illustration of this 

 stirps, fig. 11, is taken from Sepp, and belongs to the genus Polyommatus, as now 

 defined ; fig. 12 is from Abbot's Georgian insects, where it is named Papilio Favo- 

 nius ; (vol. i, p. 27, tab. xiv.) fig. 1 3 is from Esper, and belongs to the Papilio 

 Betiike of Linngeus ; both the latter are now arranged in the genus Thecla. By the 

 agreement of the metamorphosis of these insects, in the most distant parts of the 

 world, in Europe, the Indian Archipelago, and North-America, the permanent 



character 



