THE CATERPILLAR. 51 



kind are found in great numbers together, en- 

 closed in one common web, that covers them all, 

 and serves to protect them from the injuries of 

 the air. 



Lastly, there are some of the caterpillar kind 

 whose butterflies live all the winter, and who, 

 having fluttered about for some part of the latter 

 end of autumn, seek for some retreat during the 

 winter, in order to answer the ends of propaga- 

 tion at the approach of spring. These are often 

 found lifeless or motionless in the hollows of trees 

 or the clefts of timber ; but, by being approached 

 to the fire, they recover life and activity, and 

 seem to anticipate the desires of spring. 



In general, however, whether the animal has 

 subsisted in an egg state during the winter ; or 

 whether as a butterfly, bred from an aurelia, in 

 the beginning of spring ; or a butterfly that has 

 subsisted during the winter, and lays eggs as soon 

 as the leaves of plants are shot forward ; the 

 whole swarm of caterpillars are in motion to 

 share the banquet that nature has provided. 

 There is scarcely a plant that has not its own pe- 

 culiar insects, and some are known to support 

 several of different kinds. Of these, many are 

 hatched from the egg at the foot of the tree, and 

 climb up to its leaves for subsistence ; the eggs 

 of others have been glued by the parent butter- 

 fly to the leaves, and they are no sooner excluded 

 from the shell but they find themselves in the 

 midst of plenty. 



When the caterpillar first bursts from the egg, 

 it is small and feeble ; its appetites are in propor- 



