The Cabbage-caterpillar 



In the name of the might that is mine, of 

 trickery, of highway robbery, clear out of 

 that, you, and make room for me: give me 

 your seat at the banquet ! That is the inex- 

 orable law in the world of animals and more 

 or less, alas, in our own world as well ! 



Now, among our entomological auxiliaries, 

 the smallest in size are the best at their work. 

 One of them is charged with watching over 

 the cabbages. She is so small, she works so 

 discreetly that the gardener does not know 

 her, has not even heard of her. Were he to 

 see her by accident, flitting around the plant 

 which she protects, he would take no notice 

 of her, would not suspect the service rendered. 

 I propose to set forth the tiny midget's 

 deserts. 



Scientists call her Microgaster glomeratus. 

 What exactly was in the mind of the author 

 of the name Microgaster, which means little 

 belly? Did he intend to allude to the insig- 

 nificance of the abdomen? Not so. How- 

 ever slight the belly may be, the insect never- 

 theless possesses one, correctly proportioned 

 to the rest of the body, so that the classic de- 

 nomination, far from giving us any informa- 

 tion, might mislead us, were we to trust it 



353 



