ON LAItV.K. 69 



existing only in the larva state. M. Lacordaire, 

 the author of several volumes of the " Suites a 

 Buffon," appears to be of this opinion, stating, 

 moreover, that for any detailed classification of 

 larvae we have not at present sufficient materials ; 

 the larvae even of European insects being as yet but 

 imperfectly known, excepting perhaps as regards 

 those of Moths and Butterflies ; while of those of 

 exotic insects we know comparatively nothing. 

 There is, indeed, a field of entomological research 

 still open as regards the detection of the forms and 

 habits of exotic larvae, Avhieh may lead to very 

 brilliant discoveries, and the most valuable results as 

 regards the general principles of classification in 

 that branch of natural science. 



The larvae of the first division, in the kind of 

 general classification which I have adopted, can 

 hardly be considered larvae at all, in the true ac- 

 ceptance of the term, in so far as that term expresses 

 a masked stage of existence, for, with the exception 

 of their external covering becoming more firm, and 

 in some instances subject to a change of colour, 

 they do not present any material difference of aspect 

 to that which they present in their perfect state. They 

 are therefore not strictly larvae, but only insects in 

 a stage of development closely analogous to that of 



