46 ROMANCE OF THE INSECT WORLD CHAP. 



larvae of other moths, may turn cannibal, and make 

 away with the company. Similarly, the large green 

 grasshopper will eat insects smaller than itself as 

 well as its ordinary vegetable diet. The same may 

 be said of young caddis flies, and of the mole 

 cricket, which burrows in the earth, and feasts on 

 roots. Should it meet a worm, or an insect, on its 

 travels, it seems to see no reason to deny itself a 

 little variation in its customary provision as a relief 

 to sameness. On the other hand, some carnivorous 

 beetles will make a hearty meal off a putrid fungus. 

 One small family of this order (Dermestidse) in the 

 larval state is a veritable plague in museums, attacking 

 furs, skins, and dried flesh, and is not disinclined to 

 enjoy bacon and ham. In the event of being unable 

 to obtain anything of this sort, it has been known 

 to pounce upon and ruin a ship's cargo of cork. 



It is a very remarkable fact that insects frequent- 

 ly change their diet completely at their different 

 stages of existence. Moths and butterflies in their 

 immature condition feed on leaves and twigs, in 

 the interior of trunks of trees, in roots, in seeds, or 

 in the insides of fruits; while none when mature 

 deigns to partake of anything stronger than a fluid, 

 generally obtained by a casual choice and gentle sip 

 from the honey-bearing cup of a lovely flower. In 

 some parts of the world in the case of flowers want- 

 ing in the secretion of free honey, these insects tear 

 open the delicate succulent tissues in order to get at 

 the sap; they rifle the juice from fruits, such as 

 plums, peaches, and oranges, in like fashion. A 

 greater change holds good for the various states of 



