The Life of the Caterpillar 



third, a fourth and others yet, nor am I able 

 definitely to see the end of the visits paid to 

 the same egg. Each time, the needle enters 

 and inserts a germ. 



It is impossible, in such a crowd, for the eye 

 to follow the successive mothers who hasten 

 to lay in each; but there is one quite prac- 

 ticable method by which we can estimate 

 the number of germs introduced into a single 

 egg, which is, later, to open the ravaged 

 caterpillars and count the worms which they 

 contain. A less repugnant means is to num- 

 ber the little cocoons heaped up around each 

 dead caterpillar. The total will tell us how 

 many germs were injected, some by the same 

 mother returning several times to the egg 

 already treated, others by different mothers. 

 Well, the number of these cocoons varies 

 greatly. Generally, it fluctuates in the neigh- 

 bourhood of twenty, but I have come across 

 as many as sixty-five; and nothing tells me 

 that this is the extreme limit. What hide- 

 ous industry for the extermination of a But- 

 terfly's progeny ! 



I am fortunate at this moment in having a 

 highly-cultured visitor, versed in the profun- 

 dities of philosophic thought. I make way 

 370 



