INTRODUCTION. 73 



and clothing of the body, the caterpillars of moths 

 are adapted to lire in a great variety of situations 

 and circumstances. By far the greater proportion 

 are to be found on the foliage of plants ; many 

 occur only in the interior of the stem or branches; 

 not a few burrow in the earth to consume roots ; 

 and a small number are inhabitants of the waters. 

 Neither are they less varied in the nature of their 

 food. Few kinds of vegetable produce are exempted 

 from their ravages, and unhappily their taste both 

 for these and various sorts of fruits, often coincides 

 with our own. Corn is not only exposed to their 

 depredations while in the blade, but even after it 

 has been laid up in supposed security, the grain is 

 sometimes converted into a tenement for a small 

 worm, the offspring of a moth, which speedily con- 

 sumes all but the outer covering. They eat with 

 avidity the most bitter plants which our fields 

 produce, as well as those replete with a caustic and 

 corrosive juice, which on that account are left 

 untouched by other animals. The stings of the 

 nettle, and the prickles of various other plants, are 

 so far from warding off their attack, that these 

 plants seem to be the resort of a greater number of 

 caterpillars than those that are without any such 

 defence. Wool, feathers, hair, and many other 

 substances which set at defiance the digestive powers 

 of other animals, are well known to form a favourite 

 repast to these anomalous creatures, and as if no 

 limits were prescribed to their voracity, some of 



