MOTHS. 
339 
while those of the other sex are not feathered at all, or 
only furnished with very short projections, like teeth, at the 
sides. Most moths have a sucking-tube, commonly called 
the tongue, consisting of two hollow and tapering threads, 
united side by side, and when not in use rolled up in a 
spiral fonn; but in many this member is very short, and 
its two threads are not united ; and in some it is en¬ 
tirely wanting, or is reduced to a mere point. Two palpi 
or feelers are found in most moths. They grow from the 
lower lip, generally curve upwards, and cover the face on 
each side of the tongue. Some have, besides these, another 
pair, which adhere to the roots of the tongue. Many moths 
are said to have no feelers ; these parts being in them very 
small, and invisible to the naked eye. 
The caterpillars of these insects differ more from each 
other than the moths. In general they are of a cylindrical 
shape, and are provided with sixteen legs ; there are many, 
however, which have only ten, twelve, or fourteen logs; 
and in a few the legs are so very short as hardly to be 
visible, so that these caterpillars seem to glide along in the 
manner of slugs. Some caterpillars are naked, and others 
are clothed with hairs or bristles, and the hairs are either 
uniformly distributed, or grow in tufts. Sometimes the 
surface of the body is even and smooth; sometimes it is 
covered with little warts or tubercles ; or it is beset with 
prickles and spines, which not unfrequently are compound 
or branched. 
Many caterpillars, previous to their transformation, en¬ 
close themselves in cocoons, composed entirely of silk, or 
of silk interwoven with hairs stripped from their own bodies, 
or with fragments of other substances within their reach. 
Some go into the ground, Avhere they are transformed 
without the additional protection of a cocoon; others change 
to chrysalids in the interior of the stems, roots, leaves, 
or fruits of plants. The chrysalids of moths are generally 
of an elongated oval shape, rounded at one end, and tapering 
