NATURAL HISTORY. 69 
. ferpilfars feed upon leaves fo very narrow, that they are not broader 
than their mouths; in this cafe the animal is feen to devour it from the 
Point, as we would eat a raddifh. 
As there are various kinds of caterpillars, the number of their feet 
are various; fome having eight, and fome fixteen. Of thefe feet the 
ix foremoft are covered with a fort of fhining griftle; and are there- 
fore called the fhelly legs. The hindmoft feet, whatever be their num. 
er, are foft and flexible, and are called membranaceous. Caterpillars 
alfo, with regard to their external figure, are either fmooth, or hairy. 
The fkin of the firft kind is foft to the touch, or hard, like fhagreen; 
the fkin of the latter, is hairy, and as it were thorny; and generally, 
if handled, ftings like nettles. Some of them even caufe this flinging 
Pain, if but approached toc nearly. 
_ Caterpillars, in general, have fix fmall black fpots placed on the 
Circumference of the fore ring, and a little to the fide of the head. 
hree of thefe are larger than the reft, and are convex and tranfparents 
thefe*-Reaumur takes to be the eyes of the caterpillar; however, mokt 
©f thefe reptiles have very little occafion for fight, and feem only to be | 
dire@ed by their feeling 
But the parts of the caterpillar’s body which moft juftly demand our 
attention, are the ftigmata,:as they are called ; or thofe holes on the 
fides of its body, through which the animal is fuppofed to breathe, 
All along this infe&’s body, on each fide, thefe holes are eafily dif. 
Coverable. They are eighteen in number, nine on a fide, rather nearer 
the belly than the back; a hole for every ring, of which the animal’s 
Ody is compofed, except the fecond, the third, and the laft. Thefe 
®val openings may be confidered as fo many mouths, through which 
the infe@ breathes ; but with this difference, that as we have but one 
Pair of lungs, the caterpillar has no lefs than eighteen. It requires no 
Sreat anatomical dexterity to difcover thefe lungs in the larger kind of 
Caterpillars; they appear, at firft view, to be hollow cartilaginous tubes, 
@nd of the colour of mother-of-pearl. Thefe tubes are often feen to 
Unite with each other ; fome are perceived to open into the inteftines ; 
*nd fome go to different parts of the furface of the body. ‘That thefe 
Veffels ferve to convey the air, appears evidently, from the famous 
€xperiment of Malpighi; who, by flopping up the mouths of the flig- 
Mata with oil, quickly fuffocated, the animal, which was feen to die 
Convulfed the infant after. “In order to afcertain his theory, he rub- 
ed oil upon other parts of the infe@’s body, leaving the ftigmata free; 
and this feemed to have no effeét upon the animal’s health, but it con- 
"nued to move and eat as ufual: he rubbed oil on the ftigmata of one 
‘de, and the animal underwent a partial convulfion, but recovered 
Son after. However it ought to be obferved, that air is not fo ne- 
Ceflary to thefe as to the nobler ranks of animals, fince caterpillars will 
We in an exhaufted receiver for feveral days together; and though they 
Sem dead at the bottom, yet, when taken out, recover, and refumie 
ir former vivacity. 
If the caterpillar be cut open longitudinally along the back, its in- 
teflines will be perceived running dire@ly in a ftraight line from the 
*Mouth to the anus. They refemble a number of fmall bags opening 
‘to each other; and ftrengthened on both fides by a flethy cord, by 
Wich they are united. Thefe infels are, upon many occafions, fen, 
geen to 
