CH. XII.] THE DRAGON-FLY. 213 



this to take place, nature would be defeated. These 

 little worms never attack a vital organ ; they con- 

 sume only the fat that surrounds the alimentary 

 canal. The caterpillar goes on feeding as usual, 

 and thus continues the supply necessary for the full 

 growth of the larvae of the ichneumon till such time 

 as these are fit to emerge. The instinct of those 

 ichneumons which deposite only one egg in one in- 

 sect is still more extraordinary. If another perches 

 on one which has already had an egg confided to it, 

 by some sense it discovers the fact that it has been 

 anticipated, and flies off, as if aware that there is 

 just food enough for one larva, and that if two were 

 deposited, both would starve. 



Another and a most destructive enemy of the 

 living insect is the tribe of libellula, or dragon-fly, a 

 name which they well merit from their voracious 

 habits. 



The French have chosen to call them "demoi- 

 selles," from the slim elegance and graceful ease 

 of their figure and movements. But, although their 

 biilliant colouring, the beauty of their transparent 

 and wide-spread wings, may give them some claim 

 to this denomination, yet they scarcely would have 

 received it had their murderous instincts been ob- 

 served. So far from seeking an innocent nurture in 

 the juice of fruits or flowers, they are (says Reau- 

 mur) warriors more ferocious than the Amazons. 

 They hover in the air only to pounce upon other in- 

 sects, which they crush with their formidable fangs ; 

 and if they quit the banks of the rivulet, where they 

 may be seen in numbers during an evening walk, it 

 is only to pursue and seize the butterfly or moth, 

 which seeks the shelter of the hedge. 



The waters are their birth-place ; their eggs are 

 protruded into this element at once, in a mass which 

 resembles a cluster of grapes. The larva which 

 comes out of these eggs is six-footed. The only 

 difference between the larva and nymph is, that the 



