INDEX. 237 



proach of winter, but choose themselves some retreat, and 

 there remain quite motionless, and as insensible as if actually 

 dead ; caterpillars of this kind are found in great numbers 

 together, enclosed in one common web that covers them 

 all ; there are some of the kind whose butterflies live all the 

 winter, and where ; a single caterpillar eats double its own 

 weight of leaves in a day, and seems no way disordered by 

 the meal ; the body of the caterpillar anatomically consi- 

 dered ; avidity with which they feed; number of their stig- 

 mata, or those holes through which the animal is supposed 

 to breathe; it has eighteen lungs; the experiment of Mal- 

 phigi to ascertain their use ; all caterpillars spin at one time 

 or another ; many of them change their skins five or six 

 times in a season ; and in what manner ; change into an 

 aurelia ; their retreats in that state, vi. 47. There are thou- 

 sands of fishes, birds, and insects, that live chiefly upon 

 caterpillars ; a single sparrow and its mate, that have young 

 ones, destroy above three thousand caterpillars in a week ; 

 some of the kind fitted only to live upon leaves and plants, 

 will eat each other in preference to their vegetable food ; 

 the bodies of the larger kinds serve as a nest to various 

 flies, that very carefully deposit their eggs in them ; num- 

 ber of worms remain within the body of the caterpillar, de- 

 vouring its entrails, without destroying its life ; the ichneu- 

 mon tribe is not the caterpillar's offspring, as supposed, but 

 its murderers, 77. 



Cat-fish, its description, v. 121. 



Cats, the wild, hunt for the squirrel or the mouse, ii. 159. 

 The whole tribe seek their food alone, and never unite for 

 mutual defence, nor for mutual support, and, except at 

 certain seasons, are enemies to each other ; all of the cat 

 kind devour nothing but flesh, and starve upon any other 

 provision ; their greatest force lies in the claws ; the cat 

 goes with young fifty-six days, and seldom brings forth 

 above five or six at a time ; the male often devours the 

 kittens ; before they are a year old they are fit to engender ; 

 the female seeks the male with cries; nor is their copulation 

 performed without great pain, and why ; cats hunt the ser- 

 pent in the isle of Cyprus ; any animal weaker than them- 

 selves, is to them an indiscriminate object of destruction ; 

 the mouse is their favourite game, and they patiently watch 

 a whole day, until the mouse appears ; a flagrant mark by 

 which the cat discovers its natural malignity ; their eyes see 

 better in darkness than light, and why ; if the inhabitant 

 quits the house, the cat still remains ; is excessively fond of 

 some plants, such as valerian, marum, and cat-mint ; parti- 

 cularly loves fish ; its sleep is very light ; its hair sends forth 

 shining sparks, if rubbed in the dark ; the wild breed with 

 the tame; description of the wild cat; inhabits the most 



