CHAPTER IV 
MOTH GALLS 
ALLS caused by the presence of the larvae of lepidop- 
VJT terous insects are not common. The order Lepi- 
doptera contains two sections—the Rhopalocera , or Butter¬ 
flies (antennae clubbed, hind-wings without a frenulum), 
and the Heterocera, or Moths (antennae variously shaped ; 
rarely clubbed, but when they are, the frenulum is present). 
No butterflies give rise to galls, and but few moths cause 
what may be considered true galls. The life-cycle consists 
of four stages—egg, larva, pupa, and imago. The eggs are 
laid on the plants on which the larvae feed. The larvae— 
usually spoken of as caterpillars—are worm-like creatures 
with a head and thirteen segments. The first three seg¬ 
ments are thoracic, and each carries a pair of short limbs. 
Two, three, or more of the abdominal segments adjacent to 
the thoracic are legless, but some of the posterior ones have 
abdominal feet. The termination of the body carries a pair 
of thick legs, of somewhat different shape to the abdominal 
feet, known as “claspers.” The larvae are mostly vegetable 
feeders, deriving nourishment from the fluid part of the 
plant, the solid part passing from the alimentary canal in dry 
(usually) pellets, called “ brass,’' Prolonged larval state, so 
frequently seen in the Coleoptera, is rare amongst the 
Lepidoptera, but the pupal state frequently lasts nine months. 
The pupa or chrysalis is remarkable in its outer skin form¬ 
ing a hard chitinous shell. 
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