ENORMOUS VORACITY OF LARV.E. 143 



Italian, made a number of experiments upon the 

 actual quantity of leaves devoured by the larva? 

 hatched from an ounce weight of eggs ; and he 

 found that the quantity of leaves consumed by 

 them up to the completion of their development 

 as larvaa, amounted to upwards of sixteen hundred 

 and nine pounds ! In a month from being first 

 hatched, each larva consumes above an ounce of 

 leaves. As at first each larva only weighs the 

 hundredth part of a grain, it follows that it de- 

 vours, in thirty days, about sixty thousand times 

 its original weight of leaves. If we suppose a 

 puppy dog, just born, to weigh a quarter of a 

 pound, and to eat in the same proportion for one 

 month, it would have consumed, at the month's end, 

 fifteen thousand pounds of food. Could the puppy 

 eat meat from the first, which, as all are aware, 

 he cannot, he would, at this rate, devour in one 

 month, from the time of his birth, one hundred 

 and fifty sheep, supposing each to weigh one hun- 

 dred pounds ; or about five sheep for his daily 

 food ! These calculations will show how voracious 

 the Iarva3 of the silk-worm are ; and they are, pro- 

 bably, far from being among the most voracious 

 of the larvae, only we are better acquainted with 



