Zöology; a textbook for colleges and universities . mple, onmosquitoes. Even the relatively primitive Thysanura(page 268) have scales. The Lepidoptera, however,possess two pairs of wings, a sucking mouth, and havea complete metamorphosis. Beginning life in the egg, they hatch as caterpillars,commonly but erroneously called worms. The cater-pillar is a remarkable creature, since it contradicts inso many features the characters of the adult. It isusually long and cylindrical, with a rounded head andeight pairs of legs. The anterior three pairs, attachedto the thoracic segments, are the so-called
Zöology; a textbook for colleges and universities . mple, onmosquitoes. Even the relatively primitive Thysanura(page 268) have scales. The Lepidoptera, however,possess two pairs of wings, a sucking mouth, and havea complete metamorphosis. Beginning life in the egg, they hatch as caterpillars,commonly but erroneously called worms. The cater-pillar is a remarkable creature, since it contradicts inso many features the characters of the adult. It isusually long and cylindrical, with a rounded head andeight pairs of legs. The anterior three pairs, attachedto the thoracic segments, are the so-called true legs,representing the six legs of all adult insects. The re-maining ten legs, attached to the abdomen, are softand fleshy, and are sometimes called false legs, thoughthey are veritable legs and function as such. Theydisappear entirely in the adult insect. The cater-pillar also appears to have no antennae, though there 286 LEPIDOPTERA 287 are in reality very minute ones ; and the eyes, insteadof being compound, are simple and extremely small,. From Animate Creation FIG. 102. The oleander hawk moth, with its caterpillar and pupa. This is a European species. arranged in a little group on each side of the head. Themouth is provided with large mandibles, and hencethe animal, in this stage, agrees with the primitivemandibulate group. The caterpillar feeds on planttissue (a very few species devour other insects), andgrowing rapidly, changes its skin at intervals. Thatis to say, the skin splits open, and the caterpillar walks 288 ZOOLOGY out of it, clad in a new skin which had formed under-neath. Caterpillars and reptiles are not the onlyanimals which change their skins; we do likewise, onlywe do it gradually. Every time we wash our hands,dead skin cells fall away imperceptibly and new ones,formed underneath, take their place. The caterpillaris the larva stage, the word larva applying to thisstage in any insect, caterpillar specifically to thelarva of one of the Lepidoptera. The
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