314 THE WONDERS OF INSTINCT 



is now in control of the multitude, without appreciable 

 losses and is able to question it at will. 



We will begin by asking : 



" How do you manage to lodge your germs inside the 

 caterpillar?" 



This question and others of the same category, which 

 ought to take precedence of everything else, are generally 

 neglected by the impaler of insects, who cares more for 

 the niceties of nomenclature than for glorious realities. 

 He classifies his subjects, dividing them into regiments 

 with barbarous labels, a work which seems to him the 

 highest expression of entomological science. Names, 

 nothing but names: the rest hardly counts. The perse- 

 cutor of the Pieris used to be called Microgaster, that 

 is to say, little belly : to-day she is called Apanteles, that 

 is to say, the incomplete. What a fine step forward! 

 We now know all about it ! 



Can our friend at least tell us how " the Little Belly '* 

 or "the Incomplete" gets into the caterpillar? Not 

 a bit of it! A book which, judging by its recent date, 

 should be the faithful echo of our actual knowledge, 

 informs us that the Microgaster inserts her eggs direct 

 into the caterpillar's body. It goes on to say that the 

 parasitic vermin inhabit the chrysalis, whence they make 

 their way out by perforating the stout horny wrapper. 

 Hundreds of times have I witnessed the exodus of the 

 grubs ripe for weaving their cocoons; and the exit has 

 always been made through the skin of the caterpillar, and 

 never through the armor of the chrysalis. The fact that 

 its mouth is a mere clinging pore, deprived of any offen- 



