on larvje. 85 



lars, such as those of Butterflies and Moths, it is often 

 beautifully variegated with the richest colours and 

 most exquisite markings, and also in some kinds 

 with beautiful silky hairs, which sometimes clothe 

 the whole body, and in other cases are arranged in 

 tassel-like tufts of various kinds. Others have 

 curiously branching spines issuing from each seg- 

 ment, the use of which is unknown, but which arc 

 often very beautiful. The skins, or rather furs, are 

 cast several times, as previously described, each 

 of their skins having, as shown by Swammerdam, 

 existed under the other from the beginning. 



It has been considered somewhat inexplicable 

 that the external markings and colouring of the 

 Caterpillar seldom foreshadow, in the slightest de- 

 gree, the colours of the perfect insect. Some of the 

 most dingy Caterpillars, for instance, produce the 

 most splendid Moths ; and, on the other hand, 

 magnificent Caterpillars — and some of them are well 

 worthy of that term — often produce, to the great 

 disappointment of* those who have reared them, 

 simple dark-hued insects, of the most inconspicuous 

 character as to colour and markings. Some Ame- 

 rican Caterpillars, it has been remarked, are so pre- 

 cisely like certain of our own in external appear- 

 ance, that they have been taken for the same species, 



