EGGS TO IMAGO 91 



lepidopteras alone over fifty thousand named species, fortunately still 

 grovel and see but that which keeps them alive. 



Among the fascinating facts that after dinner studies taught and 

 which we had little trouble in proving was that the hairy caterpillar 

 who lays her eggs along the edges of a freshly eaten leaf does so 

 with the deliberate purpose of having her offspring devour the vitals 

 of the voracious insect that gulps them down. Mightily interesting 

 was that insect who carries sail covers just as the yachtsman does to 

 protect the wings of his yacht, with the deeper purpose of color 

 disguise from his enemies. 



The tent caterpillars pitch their moisture, predatory insect, and 

 even bird-proof tents in the forked branches of the cherry and apple. 

 They are strongly built and will stand persistent onslaught. After 

 foraging, the colony returns to the fold from time to time to recover 

 from its gluttonous debauches. 



Leaf-Rollers. 



We found that the leaf-roller weevil partially cuts off the supply 

 of sap from the leaf to make it limp enough to roll into a snug egg 

 pocket. Leaf hoppers hopped into the spread net of the carnivorous 

 spider, the one who swallows his nearest relatives with fiendish gusto. 



Some plants guard with a hairy growth their chalice of nectar 

 from such crawling freebooters as ants and beetles, saving their mines 

 of sweetness for the bee and his pollen carrying fellows. 



A wonderfully busy and particular little fellow is that same 

 pollinating bee. Unlike the fly, who takes everything in sight, he 

 demands aesthetic coloring, choicest nectar, and delicious odor. Much 

 of bee life begins its work 'mid the willow blossoms of early spring 

 and the death of the fall asters sees the blotting out of a vast major- 

 ity of these mighty purveyors to man's existence. 



Egg to Imago. 



Within the egg of a canker worm is epitomized the beginning 

 of many a parasitical insect. Another parasite dwelling in its 

 fellows is so wedded to hygiene as to cut a sewage outlet in the skin 

 of his living, pulsating temporary home through which to eject all 

 refuse. The woolly bear caterpillar thatches its cocoon with its own 

 wiry spiny hair to withstand and discourage bird attacks. 



Laze Bugs. 



Laze bugs, such as the ambush, the flower bug and the ant lion, 

 who can starve like a camel, eschew foraging, but, securely hidden, 

 spring on their unsuspecting victims as they seek the lure of blossom 

 nectar or inadvertently slide into the little sand pit trap built and set 

 by his lordship, the ant lion, plebeianly called the doodle bug. 



Typical marauders were the wasps. With omniverous appetites 

 they stung fruit and insect alike, often killing the active cicadas. 



