130 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



look like grains of rice, but which are nothing but the co 

 coons of small Ichneumon flies, which have been raised in 

 the body of that caterpillar, and work themselves out of its 

 skin when ready for their own metamorphosis into a co 

 coon. This change takes place very rapidly, and then they 

 fall to the ground to await their final transformation into 

 a perfect Ichneumon. 



Lastly, caterpillars arc not only indirectly useful to man, 

 but they are directly of the greatest importance to him; 

 they not only indirectly furnish him with palatable food, 

 but they directly supply him with his costliest and most 

 beautiful apparel. What a rebuke for human pride ! The 

 gaudy and spangled robes that deck earth s greatest po 

 tentates are originally woven by the despised worm that 

 crawls beneath their feet ! What a profound lesson in the 

 economy of nature, and how striking an illustration of the 

 dependence of all created things ! An apparently insignifi 

 cant caterpillar becomes one of the most important articles 

 in the manufacture and commerce of the world. An infant 

 butterfly weaves its own beautiful colors into a texture that 

 becomes not only the splendid and appropriate ornament 

 of female beauty, but also the insignia of office, rank, and 

 power. The academic gown, the priestly vestments, and 

 the monarch s royal robes were all once inclosed within the 

 cocoon of a silk-worm. 



This caterpillar is the most renowned and the most prof 

 itable of all, and is extensively cultivated in France, Italy, 

 Greece, Turkey, Persia, China, and Transcaucassia,* and 

 might as well be cultivated in this country, if the importa 

 tion of foreign silk and the tariff did not operate against 

 this branch of industry. We have, however, quite a num 

 ber of Moths, indigenous to this country, the cocoons of 

 which might also furnish a very valuable, strong, and cx- 



* See B. JAEGER S Versuch einer Darstettung des naturllclier Rcich&amp;lt; 

 thums der russischen Lander jcnseits dcs Caucasus. Leipzig, 1830. 



