The time passed in the pupa state by insects with complete metamorphosis
is by no means always of the same length. For example, there are two
generations annually of the cabbage white butterfly; one lives through
the winter in the pupa state, the pupæ of the other are found in summer.
So that while an insect of the winter generation lives about half a year
in the pupa state, this condition lasts only about a month in the summer
generation. A higher temperature hastens the development.
Although the insect in the pupa state takes no food, it nevertheless
breathes, and therefore continually uses up body substance. This using
up only takes place to a small extent however, since the animal moves
but little. From whence, then, does the pupa get the material to cover
the loss of body substance? In the larval condition the insect takes far
more food than it requires for the development of its body, and from
this excess it builds up reserve stuffs, which are deposited in the
so-called “fat-bodies” of the larva. These reserve materials are
re-absorbed during the pupa state, and serve to maintain the breathing.
Consequently a pupa that has just been formed moves more than another
one just about to become a butterfly.
[Illustration:
FIG. 66.—Larva of a Weevil.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 67.—A Hover Fly (_Syrphus pyrasti_). Fly, maggot, and pupa case.
]
The larvæ and pupæ of the different kinds of insects which undergo a
complete metamorphosis have not the same shape of body. Among the larvæ
may be distinguished _caterpillars_, _grubs_, and _maggots_. The
_caterpillars_ (Fig. 60) have a clearly marked head with hard covering,
three pairs of jointed thoracic legs, and a varying number of unjointed
pro-legs. They are usually variegated or green in colour, and are
divided into _true caterpillars_ and _false caterpillars_ (Figs. 60, 63,
and 64). The first, after the resting pupa stage, become butterflies or
moths; the latter saw-flies. The true caterpillars have two to five
pairs of pro-legs, the false caterpillars six to eight pairs. Reckoning
in the thoracic legs, therefore, the true caterpillars have altogether
five to eight, the false caterpillars nine to eleven pairs. The head of
the latter is more rounded, while that of the former is more flattened.
The way in which caterpillars walk depends upon the number of their
legs. If this is fairly large so that most of the segments of the body
are provided with legs, the whole body remains tolerably extended during
progression. But if the number is small—as in the looper caterpillars,
where there are three pairs of thoracic legs at the anterior end, and at
the posterior end only a terminal pair of legs (the caudal pro-legs) and
another pair in front of them—the middle legless region is strongly bent
during locomotion (Fig. 63). Hence the name “looper.” The loopers often
bend their bodies in a characteristic way. When at rest the hinder part
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