STATES OF INSECTS. 133 



insect; namely, coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia, and tarsus, 

 suspended to each other by membranous ligaments: these 

 parts are less distinctly marked in some than in others. 

 Thus in the legs of a caterpillar, or the grub of a capri- 

 corn-beetle, at first you would think there were only three 

 or four joints besides the claw; but upon a nearer inspec- 

 tion, you would discover at the base of the leg the rudi- 

 ments of two others a , in the latter represented indeed by 

 the fleshy protuberance from which the legs emerge. 

 In the larvae of the predaceous Coleoptera, the hip and 

 trochanter are as conspicuous nearly as in the perfect 

 insect; and the tarsus, which still consists of only a sin- 

 gle joint, is armed with two claws b . In those of the 

 Neuroptera order, in which all the joints are very con- 

 spicuous, the tarsi are jointed, as well as two-clawed c . 

 The legs of larvae are usually shorter than those of the 

 perfect insect, and scarcely differ from each other in 

 shape, for they all gradually decrease in diameter from 

 the base to the apex. This is the most usual conforma- 

 tion of them in Lepidopterous, Hymenopterous, and 

 some Coleopterous larvae, (those of the capricorn-beetles 

 are very short and minute, so as to be scarcely visible,) 

 in which they are so small as to be concealed by the body 

 of the insect d . In Neuropterous larvae, however, and 



? Lyonnet Anatom. t. uuf. 8. Coxan. Trochanter c. Femur d. Ti- 

 bia e. Tarsus f. Claw g. 



b De Geer iv. t. xiii./. 20; and t. xv./. 16. 



c Ibid. ii. t. xvi./. 5, 6, 7- d e: and t. xix./. 4. efg h. 



d The larva of a scarce moth (Stauropus Fagi. See Plate XIX. 

 Fig. 4) is an exception to this. The first pair of its legs are of the 

 ordinary stature, but the two next are remarkably long, and so thin 

 and weak as to be unable to bear the body. Pezold. 119. Another 

 minute caterpillar described by Reaumur has the third pair of the 



