40 ERUCA. 
many others which you have not yet 
mentioned. 
Mother. A great many, indeed ; too 
many to give you an account of them all. 
But that you may clearly distinguish 
those about which we have conversed 
from a sort of erucae called false cater- 
pillars, I will define the true caterpillar. 
Lucy, Erucse; you never mentioned 
them before. 
Mother, Eruca* is a general name 
for all maggots, worms, and caterpillars, 
that are the larvae of more perfect winged 
insects. You remember what larva 
means ? 
Lucy. Oh yes, the young of every 
kind of insect ; and it means mask, and 
it is a Latin word. 
Mother. Quite right : we will go on 
then. All caterpillars are much longer 
than they are broad : they have twelve 
rings in their bodies : the covering of the 
bead is of a shelly hardness, but the rest of 
* Eruca, Latin for a canker worm. 
