CHAPTER II. 
OF THE LARVA, OR CATERPILLAR STATE. 
Tur second, or larva state, is that condition of the 
animal which follows its exclusion from the egg. The 
Caterpillar is soft, without wings, and usually of 
an oblong shape, differing, however, very consider- 
ably in the various species. The lower figure of 
Plate I. represents the larva of the Peacock Butter- 
fly, (Papilio Io.) 
The word larva (which, in Latin, signifies a 
mask,) was adopted by Linneeus, because he con- 
sidered that the real insect, while in the caterpillar 
state, was under a mask. In the English language 
caterpillar is the term employed for the grub of 
the butterfly in this condition. 
The larvee of butterflies are extremely small at 
first, when they issue from the egg, but they grow 
rapidly, and to a great size in proportion to their 
original bulk. The larva of the Goat Moth, (Cossus 
ligniperda,) when it has arrived at its full size, is 
seventy-two thousand times heavier than when it 
emerges from the egg; and the maggot of the Blue 
Fly is, in twenty-four hours, one hundred and fifty- 
five times heavier than at its birth. 
