126 
TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 
other, and the caterpillars are dissimilar. The caterpillars live 
under very opposite circumstances, they like different plants, 
and they have their feet specially constructed to enable them 
to crawl over particular leaves, and one kind would find itself 
very much out of its place should it attempt to lead the life 
of others. ISlo group, so far as the caterpillars are concerned, 
shows greater evidences of design, and offers proofs of the 
special adaptation of structures to particular ends. In con- 
sidering how all this bears upon the Darwinian theory, it 
must be remembered that the moth is the perfect animal, and 
that the caterpillars and chrysalides are being developed into 
the perfect form, and that they are undergoing evolution. It 
is not logical to argue upon the data afforded by the structures 
of the immature insect, because, during the early conditions of 
all animals, there are developments going on which cannot be 
divided naturally into steps or stages for the sake of argument. 
The details of the organisation of the adult and perfect forms 
afford the only satisfactory data for comparison, and it is 
evident that in the instances before us the variability is cut 
short at the end of caterpillar life, and that Nature asserts her 
love of persistence of form in reproducing identical moths from 
different larvae. 
The Noctuina have a stout body, and generally speaking 
narrow fore wings, under which the hind wings are folded in 
repose ; the insect thus looks much smaller than it does when 
the wings are all expanded. Mr. Stainton mentions that when 
he first saw the common “ yellow under wing” he thought it a 
dull, reddish-brown inconspicuous thing ; he was surprised to 
see it grow to three times its previous size, as it displayed its 
yellow under wings. The Noctuina are generally small ; they 
have a moderately long trunk, and projecting palps, and the 
antennae which are thread -shaped, are either simple or finely 
denticulated. The moths, unlike those we have just noticed 
amongst the Bombycina , take nourishment, and are very fond 
of sugar, and they have, therefore, a moderately long sucker. 
The caterpillars are usually without any hair. 
Naturalists have divided the Noctuina into two main groups, 
the Trifidce and the Quadrifidce. In the Trifidce the moth is 
