JANUARY . 269 



no legs, and a worm always remains just a 

 worm. Properly this thing is called a larva, 

 though this is quite by the way. It is as 

 long as your finger and nearly as heavy, and 

 has a most dangerous-looking horn on its 

 tail. The sight of it fills most people with 

 disgust, if not with fear. This, however, 

 is purely the result of our unconscious and 

 absurd horror of all creeping things. It is 

 very strange how many animals, at first 

 repugnant, lose their repulsiveness and 

 become even beautiful when we grow 

 interested in them. The green color so 

 common to the different species of these 

 larvae is just a part of Nature's old trick 

 of protection. Living as they do upon the 

 green background of the leaves, they would 

 be sure, were they not colored as they are, 

 to attract the notice of hungry birds which 

 have none of our repugnance for these busy 

 creatures. 



The only apparent mission in life for 

 such a larva is to eat, and at this vocation 

 it busies itself so absorbingly that soon it 

 has filled itself completely and any further 



