Show Children of Moths and Butterflies I Y ROBERTSON MILLER r l 1 0 co s sF t J i I F it I err a 1 I 4 ri ric S c fl r l yi t a ad O n 1 er II 1 f TT s A Slug Caterpillar B Caterpillar C Many Maii Y Yat of or the wormlike creatures who eat at the leaves of trees and plants are fre not worms worn 9 but the children of insects Yori You Tou see it is this way The wise pro professors prof f who study the living forms of nature have hove decided that the easiest way to learn leam about things is to put the animals in one group and the plants in another and then to divide and re divide these into smaller groups until forms with similar characteristics are classed together The worms are not classed with the insects for they never become beautiful beautiful ful winged creatures as do the cater caterpillars caterpillars caterpillars pillars of the moths and butterflies the maggots of the th flies nes and the grubs of the beet beeth To tell caterpillar from ether other insect children and from its more distant relatives the th true worms may at first seem di difficult but when you OU find a crawler entirely unknown to you notice if it has three pairs of claw feet near its head and some big legs called caned upon its body If it has you may be quite certain that it is 15 the young of a moth or a butterfly Of course if you were to ask one of the wt is professors how to know a caterpillar he might give you a differ of identifying it but I think you will find my way a very good one oneto oneto oneto to begin with but remember that th t a caterpillar never has legs on each joint of its body like the centipede and that It is never entirely without legs as is the angleworm although the slug cater caterpillars caterpillars pillars have very poor excuses for feet I can tell you Then the d boasts of but two pairs p irs of and must always travel by looping off the distance while the misnamed bag w worm orm without even a pair of these legs getson gets on by walkIng with its six claw feet and not only does it do this suc successfully successfully successfully but in ih addition it carries its little bag of ola a house wherever it goes Now let us examine a caterpillar that of the big moth for instance and see what it is like We find a head a hard shiny skin and back cf this thirteen joints that contract and expand ss is the young insect walks and andI I I believe that it is the th motion of these those joints that makes us dislike caterpillars On the first three joints or 1 segments se are the true feet six in number then on the th sixth seventh eighth ninth and thirteenth joints there ther are fleshy legs shaped much as asa asam a am the fo feet t of elephants These help helpa a caterpillar when it crawls about and Then when it eats or rests they hold Its body In position by clasping a a twig for sup gup support support port On either side of th the body above the legs lags we find a row of circular holes and it is by means of these that the caterpillars breathe The has also aIso rows of brightly colored knobs W which are supposed to frighten its ene enemies enemies enemies mies as brilliant colors colonl in nature fre frequently frequently frequently indicate danger Many cater caterpillars caterpillars caterpillars pillars are thus protected while others like those of or the turn us swallowtail so closely resemble the colors of the leaves le vea oh oil which they feed that it is hard work to find them A few have concealed weapons for defense and use them in such a touch me if you dare dares manner that one is glad to retreat until quite certain that hat the annoyed crawler is harmless As a ft rule rul caterpillars are not poison polson poisonous Qua ills Their mouth parts J are small and fn En arranged arran ed that they can take but a avee wee vee bite at t a time They have no poi poison poison poison son sting like the spiders and only a afew afew few of them are clothed with hairs or bristles which may my cause a painful itching if they pierce the skin The lo To and the slug caterpillars are some of the th insects in that should be carefully handled because of these stinging hairs but the yellow and black wooly wool crawlers commonly called caterpillars are perfectly harmless On the under lip Up of many caterpillars there is a little horny horn tube a spinneret and from this fine tine silk threads can be he drawn when the caterpillar c needs them These caterpillars make maRe many wonder wonderful ful things with this silk aUk For Instance some build suspension bridges from limb to limb so 80 that they can travel moro more mor easily about the tree others weave carpets and regular spring mat mattresses mattresses tresses tr to rest upon while a few con construct construct construct houses hoUS S called co cocoons cons cocoons coons ns and from some Orne of these the e cocoons we ve get sUk for our clothes It Is not at all aU easy euy to see the eyes of ofa ofa ofa a caterpillar unless s you look for tor them th m through a magnifying glass They are round raised places a es above the jaws on the side of the tho head Probably the feel feelers feelers feelers ers at the tha mouth of tho the caterpillar help it to find the good things to eat quite as much as do the eyes A caterpillar as we know hatches batches from an egg laid by a moth or a butter butterfly fly and Its Us one business In life Ufe Is to feed As a rule It likes best the green leaves of plants but there are cater caterpillars caterpillars pillars who prefer plant lide e and scale insects for food When a caterpillar r has outgrown its first skin this bursts open and lo to and behold out walks the crawler in a soft new one that stretches and stretches AS the ins ct grows until it can stretch no more and then It too is thrown off like the first skin Every E ery caterpillar must change Its clothes several times before it is fully grown and ready to go to sleep in its chrysalis cradle and this process is most interesting int Many caterpillars have round worm wormlike wormlike wormlike like bodies boales among these the th cabbage cabbageworm cabbageworm worm orm whose mother Is the small white butterfly of our gardens There are some startling exceptions namely that of the puss moth with its forked tail tall talland and whip lashes the spiny slugs and other crawlers so queer and irregular in form or so wonderfully painted and bedecked that they no longer resemble the ordinary caterpillar although each and every one will barring accident some day become a beautiful winged wined moth or butterfly n Copyrighted 1906 1006 by The Nature Story Syndicate |