INTRODUCTION. 
67 
as are laid late in autumn, do not produce their cater- 
pillars till the ensuing spring. To facilitate the egress 
of the young larvae, the eggs of some species are 
furnished with a kind of lid at one end, which is 
pushed outwards by tile pressure of the head. 
Guided by an instinct which must excite the ad- 
miration of every reflecting mind, the butterfly, how- 
ever herself regardless of such pasture, never fails to 
place her eggs either upon the plant which is to af- 
ford sustenance to her infant progeny, or in its im- 
mediate vicinity ; so that, upon their first exclusion, 
they are surrounded by their appropriate food. Up- 
on issuing from the egg, the young larva; appear as 
small cylindrical worms ; but their growth is ra- 
pid, and no very lengthened period elapses before 
they attain their full dimensions. It is in this state 
that they are termed caterpillars, a name which they 
probably owe to their voracious habits.* They are 
the most destructive of all the smaller animals to 
living vegetation, and their ravages are sometimes so 
extensive, as not only to occasion considerable loss 
to the gardener and agriculturist, but even to render 
* The origin of this word is not very obvious, but it no 
doubt refers to their destructive propensities. The most 
probable derivation is that which assigns it to the two old 
French words, acat , food or provisions, more recently writ- 
ten cates, as in Paradise Lost, 
alas ! how simple to these cates 
Was the crude apple that diverted Eve ! 
and piller, to rob or plunder, whence also we have the word 
pillage. 
