The Cionus 



more. This multipHcIty gives us food for re- 

 flection. When fully matured, the capsules 

 of the scollop-leaved mullein are small, 

 greatly inferior in size to those of other 

 plants of the same genus. When still very 

 young, green and tender, those containing 

 the eggs are hardly as big as half a grain 

 of wheat. There is not food for so many 

 feasters in so tiny a morsel; there would not 

 be enough for one. 



All mothers are provident. The exploiter 

 of the mullein cannot have endowed her six 

 or more nurselings with such scanty posses- 

 sions. For these various reasons, I doubt 

 at first whether these are really the Cionus' 

 eggs. What follows is not calculated to de- 

 crease my hesitation. The orange eggs 

 hatch out, producing grubs which within 

 twenty-four hours abandon their exiguous 

 natal chamber. They emerge through the 

 orifice which has been left open; they spread 

 over the capsule, cropping its down, a pasture 

 sufficient for their first mouthfuls. They de- 

 scend to the thin little twigs, which they strip 

 of their bark, and gradually move on to the 

 small ajacent leaves, where the banquet is 

 continued. Let us leave them to grow. 

 313 



