Volume 1

A hand-book to the order Lepidoptera / by W.F. Kirby.

  • Kirby, W. F. (William Forsell), 1844-1912.
Date:
1896-1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A hand-book to the order Lepidoptera / by W.F. Kirby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    38/418
    bably point them out to insectivorous animals as inedible.* The cateipillar just mentioned feeds openly on the spurge in the most exposed situations. Other caterpillars are provided with retractile tentacles on the neck or at the extremity of the body, which appear to be useful for driving away Ichneumon flies or other small enemies. As a general rule the lives of caterpillars only last a few months, and in some species only a few weeks or days before they aiiiveat their full growth; but many caterpillars pass the winter in that state. Sometimes they emerge from the egg in the autumn, go into winter quarters immediately, and eat nothing till spring ; but in other cases they hibernate when partly grown. In the case of double-brooded insects, the broods necessarily occupy much less time to pass through all their stages in sum- mei than in winter, when the rapidity of their development is checked by the cold. And in warm countries many species are double-brooded which are only single-brooded in colder regions. It is believed that the caterpillars of Arctic Lepidop- tera may require several seasons to attain their full growth. These may be frozen hard enough to chink when thrown into a glass, and yet recover when gradually thawed. But nearer home the longest-lived catopillar known is that of the Goat Moth, which feeds inside the trunks of trees, and takes three years to arrive at maturity. When a caterpillar has reached its full size, and is ready to moult for the last time, it prepares to become a Pupa or Chrysalis. The term “pupa,” which means a doll fpuppet) in Latin, is generally applied by entomologists to the intermediate sta^e against the attacks of parasites but --