62 



iNSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



stance, indeed, of the whole phenomenon, is the 

 instinct with which the grubs are evidently g:uided 

 to avoid devouring; any vital part, so that they may 

 not kill the caterpillar, as in that case it would be 

 useless to them for food. When full c^rown, they 

 even eat their way through the skin of the cater- 

 pillar without killing it ; though it generally dies in 

 a few days, without moving far from the place where 

 the grubs have spun their group of silken cocoons 

 in which to pass the winter. 



Generation of Ichneumons, a a, the cateriiillarof Pontin Bran- 

 siccv. b. the efifgs of that buttertly glued to a leaf, c, Mieroijastev 

 glomrrntus, inapnifiei]. d d d, a. niagniticd view of a disstcted 

 caterpillar, in whose body a number of ichneumon cater[)illars 

 have been hatched, e, silk cocoons spun by tlie ichneumons. 

 /. prubs spinning cocoons, g, grubs eating their way out of the 

 caterpillar. 



