94 



would take the trouble. The wonderful increase that only two summers would be capable 

 of producing among many of them, if each egg was to yield its respective insect, is amazing. 

 The world itself, in a few years, would be incapable of affording plants sufficient for the 

 nourishment of one single species.* 



" Hence will appear the ' loving kindness' of the Almighty, in setting such bounds, and 

 keeping them within such limits as best answers the purpose for which He created them ; 

 and hence appears the necessity of their becoming food to other animals. Birds, fishes, and 

 the smaller kinds of beasts, are at eternal war with them ; but as all these would be insuf- 

 ficient of themselves to restrain and prevent them from multiplying too fast, other kinds of 

 beings are instituted for this end, whose existence depends on their destruction. Of these, 

 the species of insect I am describing, is the most singular, of which (genus) there are seve- 

 ral sorts, differing greatly in size and shape. Some are furnished with three setae or bristles 

 at the extremity of their bodies, the middle one being a hollow tube, secured or fenced by 

 the outer ones, through which they eject their eggs, after they have penetrated the body of 

 the caterpillar they settle on. Some appear to have no bristles, others have them bent close 

 under their bodies, and are not to be seen, unless closely examined. As their whole business 

 appears to be the destroying the caterpillars of the butterfly and moth tribes, they are 

 indefatigable in the pursuit of them ; but as this is confined to the pregnant females, they 

 are observed ranging about continually in search of the proper subjects to lay their eggs on ; 

 flying on every bush, and running with unwearied diligence on every twig, till they have 

 arrived to the place where the scent of the caterpillar soon furnishes them with the certainty 

 of its being there. Having thus discovered the animal it was in quest of, the Ichneumon 

 immediately settles on it, with an intent to discharge its eggs ; but the caterpillar being sen- 

 sible, from a natural instinct, of its enemy's assault, bends its head backwards to the place 

 where it feels itself attacked, and endeavours by various means, either by striking its head 

 violently against the part, falling to the ground, or by some sudden contortion, to disengage 

 itself : but this seldom happens, unless the Ichneumon is feeble, and unable to withstand 

 the shocks of the caterpillar ; in which case they will frequently relinquish their attack, and 

 seek out £ome other subject, whose resistance they are more capable of encountermg. On 

 the other hand, if the Ichneumon is stron"- enough to withstand the efforts of the cater- 

 pillar, it either lays its eggs on the outside of the skin, as is the nature of some to do, or else 

 perforates the body with the bristle before described, and immediately discharges an egg. 

 Some of these Ichneumons quit the caterpillar upon the emission of an egg, but others con- 



* " Let no one that is unacquainted with this study, suppose that there is any exae;geiation in this account; or tliat what I 

 have related, is done with a view to catch the opinion of the public. Far from it. Every adept knows it, and to every adept 

 I would appeal. 



" I have counted above three hundred eggs, contained in the bag of a spider ; and I have observed more than that number 

 laid by a water insect (Phryganea) on a blade of grass, by a river side. The moth, common in our gardens, named the Great Tiger 

 (or Caja of Linnseus), lays above six hundred eggs ; and almost double that number I have known discharged by a Long Legs, as 

 it is called, or Tipula of LinnDeus. Goedartius mentions two thousand worms that he plainly counted, springing from their parent 

 insect, and imagines there were three thousand bred from the same animal. 



