THE CATERPILLAR. 
305 
clean away. One may be amused, for a litile time, in observ- 
ing the avidity with which they are seen to feed ; some are 
seen eating the whole day ; others have their hours of repast ; 
some choose the night, and others the day. When the cater- 
pillar attacks a leafj it places its body in such a manner, that 
the edge of the leaf shall fall between its feet, which keeps it 
steady, while the teeth are employed in cutting it : these fall 
upon the leaf, somewhat in the manner of a pair of gardener’s 
shears ; and every morsel is swallow ed as soon as cut. Some 
caterpillars feed upon leaves so very narrow, that they are 
not broader than their mouths ; in this case the animal is 
seen to devour it from the point, as we would eat a radish. 
As there are various kinds of caterpillars, the number of 
their feet are various ; some having eight, and some sixteen. 
Of these feet, the six foremost are covered with a sort of shin- 
ing gristle; and are therefore called the shelly legs. The 
hindmost feet, whatever be their number, arc soft and flexi- 
ble, and are called membranaceous. Caterpillars also, with 
regard to their external figure, are either smooth or hairy. 
The skin of the first kind is soft to the touch, or hard, like 
shagreen; the skin of the latter is hairy, and, as it were, 
thorny; and generally, if handled, stings like nettles. 
Caterpillars, in general, have six smail black spots, placed 
on the circumference of the fore ring, and a little to the 
side of the head. Three of these are larger than the rest, 
and are convex and transparent : these Reaumur takes to 
be the eyes of the caterpillar ; however, most of these rep- 
tiles have very little occasion for sight, and seem only to be 
directed by their feeling. 
But the parts of the caterpillar’s body which most justly 
demand our attention, are the stigmata, as they are called ; or 
those holes on the sides of its body, through which the animal 
is supposed to breathe. All along this insect’s body, on each 
side, these holes are easily discoverable. They are eighteen 
in number, nine on a side, rather nearer the belly than the 
back ; a hole for every ring, of which the animal’s body is 
composed, except the second, the third, and the last. These 
oval openings may be considered as so many mouths through 
which the insect breathes ; but with this difference, that as 
W'e have but one pair of lungs, the caterpillar lias no less than 
eighteen. It requires no great anatomical dexterity to disco- 
ver these lungs in the larger kind of caterpillars : they appear, 
at first view, to be hollow cartilaginous tubes, and of the 
colour of mother-of-pearl. These tubes are often seen to 
unite with each other; some are perceived to open into the 
intestines ; and some go to different parts of the surface of the 
VoL. II. 2 Q 
