Larva

pl. LARVE, (lahrvah.) [ L., a mask.] (Antiq.) Among the old Romans, the spectre of a deceased person, often represented under the form of a skeleton.(Zool.) The grub or caterpillar state of an insect, or that stage of its metamorphosis which it a umes on i uing from the egg, and before entering upon the pupa state. The term is also applied to the early stage of existence of lower animals. [s. 528]