Book VII. 



NOXIOUS INSECTS. 



1071 



when hatching, becomes enveloped in a case of wool (wi). Brushing off these cfeatures is the only effectual 

 remedy, and, if set about at once and persevered in, will save the trouble of many prescrilied washes and 

 powders, which are mere palliatives. Happily the British agriculturist has little to do with them. 



SuBSECT. 4. Of Leindoplerous Insects. 

 6888. The lejndoptera contains the butterfly, moth, and hawk-moth ; they have four 

 wings covered with scales or a sort of farina ; they have a mouth, with palpi, a spiral 

 tongue, and the body covered with hair. The scales resemble feathers ; they lie over one 

 another in an imbricated manner, the shaft towards the body of the insect, and the ex- 

 pansion towards the end of the wing, reflecting the most brilliant colors. 



6889. 0/ the butterfly genus {Papilio, Ja.) many thousand species arc known in Europe, and in England 

 alone more than eleven hundred have been collected by one celebrated entomologist. 

 r'6890. The tori;<s,o/-^OMn^, of the different kinds of butterflies and moths, when in that state in which 

 they come from the egg, are called caterpillars. These, which are very minute at first, feed generally on 

 the leaves of vegetables, and increase in size. They cast their skins occasionally, and sometimes change 

 in color and markings, but never in their general appearance or in their habits. Eating seems to be their 

 sole employment ; and when they meet with food that suits their palate they are extremely voracious, 

 committing great havoc in gardens. But the same cause which restrains the depredations of the aphides 

 and other insects has also set bounds to the destruction occasioned by the caterpillar, who has myriads of 

 internal as well as external enemies. Many flies deposit their eggs in the bodies of caterpillars. From 

 these eggs proceed small maggots, which gradually devour the vitals of the animal in which they reside. 

 When about to be transformed into chrysalids, they pierce the skin of the caterpillar, spin their pods, and 

 remain on the empty skin till they assume the form of flies, and escape into the air to perform the same 

 cruel office to another unfortunate larva. Every person must recollect to have seen the colewort or cab- 

 bage caterpillar stuck upon old walls, or the windows of country cottages, totally covered with these chry- 

 salids, which have the form of small maggots, and are of a fine yellow colour. One of the most formida- 

 ble enemies of the caterpillar is a black worm, with six crustaceous legs : it is longer and thicker than an 

 ordinary-sized caterpillar. In the fore part of the head it has two curved pincers, with which it quickly 

 pierces the belly of a caterpillar, and never quits the prey till it is entirely devoured. The largest cater- 

 pillar is not sufficient to nourish this larva for a single day ; for it daily kills and eats several of them. 

 These gluttons, when gorged with food, become unactive, and almost motionless ; when in this satiated 

 condition, young larvas of the same species attack and devour them. Of all trees, the oak perhaps nou- 

 rishes the greatest number of different caterpillars, as well as of different insects. Among others, the 

 oak is inhabited by a large and beautiful beetle. This beetle frequents the oak, probably because that tree 

 is inhabited .by the greatest number of caterpillars. It marches from branch to branch, and, when dis- 

 posM for food, attacks and devours the first caterpillar that comes in its way. 



6891. Chrysalis state. When full grown, the caterpillar seeks some retreat, to prepare for an important 

 change, viz. from the soft caterpillar, possessing motion and feeding so voraciously, to the hard chrysalis, 

 fixed immoveably, and sustained without food. The retreat that is chosen and the preparation that is made 

 for this important change vary essentially in different species : some retire to the sheltered situations of 

 houses, walls, and other buildings ; some bury themselves in the ground ; some wrap themselves up in leaves ; 

 others attach themselves to the stalks of plants ; while others again eat into the stems of vegetables, or the 

 very heart of trees, and there undergo their metamorphosis. Although each kind of caterpillar seeks a 

 different retreat, yet all of the same species seek the same, and adopt the same means of preservation. 

 Such as are to lie dormant all winter, seek the warmth of our houses, or dig their way into the ground, 

 below the influence of the expected frosts. Such as are to leave their prisons in a few weeks, and before 

 the end of summer, roll themselves up in the leaves of those plants on which they fed. No caterpillar 

 that is to remain in the state of a chrysalis till the following summer, attaches itself to an annual plant; 

 and none that is to enter on its winged state in winter (which some few do) is ever found but upon ever- 

 greens. In the preparation which is made for their metamorphosis, caterpillars differ as much as in their 

 selection of a proper place. Some attach themselves by a thread from their tails, and are suspended per- 

 pendicularly; while others, among which is the white cabbage butterfly, by another thread across the 

 body, are suspended horizontally. The silk-worm and several others spin a complete covering or case 

 for their bodjes, some of finer materials and less agglutinated together than others. Some caterpillars form 

 a ball or nest of the mould in which they are buried, glued together by their saliva, and smoothed within j 

 and others fasten two leaves together, or, curling its edges, unite two parts of the same leaf by threads 

 and bands, and thus form a covering and safe retreat for themselves. 



6892. Perfect insect. After the animal has lain dormant its due time in the chrysalis state, the skin 

 or shell bursts, and the perfect insect, in its winged state, creeps out, gradually expands its wings, and, 

 when dried, becomes a gay inhabitant of the air. It now no longer seeks to satisfy its hunger on the 

 gross food that it devoured when a caterpillar, but sips the nectar from the blossoms of the flowers. 

 Having fulfilled the intentions of nature, they deposit their eggs with care, and, having thus provided for 

 a future generation, the insect terminates its short but brilliant career. In the deposition of their eggs, 

 the parent butterflies and moths display wonderful instinct in selecting precisely such places as are best 

 adapted to their future young ; such plants, for instance, as will furnish food for the new-born cater- 

 pillars, and such parts of plants as are not likely to be removed by decay, or such as will be exactly in 

 the required stage of maturity at the time when the caterpillars are to be born. Thus, a little insect {Tinea 

 pomona) lays its eggs in the blossom, that its caterpillar may feed on the fruit of the apple j and several 

 others act in the same provident way. 



6893. The most remarkable British butter- 

 flies ore the purple emperor (Papilio iris), 

 which appears in July, and is considered 

 the most beautiful : the peacock butterfly, 

 (P. Io\ whose wings are of a brownish- 

 red color with black spots, is sufficient- 

 ly common in the south of England, 

 but extremely rare in the north : the tor- 

 toise-shell butterfly (P. urticce,Jig. 7.56.) 

 which appears in its winged state about the 

 month of April, is one of the most com- 

 mon, at the same time the most beautiful 

 of the British lepidoptera ; the upper wings 

 are red, and marked with alternate bands 

 of black and pale orange ; the eggs (a), 

 caterpillar (6), and chrysalis (c) are each 

 elegant in their kind. The mazarine blue butterfly (P. cymon) is also an admired species 



