LARVA

(Lat. larva, a mask.) A Metabolian insect in its first stage after exclusion from the egg is so called, because its real form is, as it were, masked: the same term is also applied to those reptiles which undergo a metamorphosis, as the frog, when at a corresponding period of existence. Larva. Spectres of the deceased were so termed by the Romans: mere empty forms or phantoms, as their name indicates; yet endowed with a sort of existence resembling life, since they were to be propitiated by libation and sacrifice. The larva of Caligula, according to Suet on i us, was often seen in his palace after his decease. The larvae are described by Seneca, and often represented in paintings and on gems under the figure of skeleton; sometimes under those of old men, with shorn locks and long beards, carrying an owl on their hands. [s. 652]