The Cabbage-caterpillar 



collect the clusters as they are, without seeking 

 to separate them, an operation which would 

 demand both patience and dexterity, for the 

 cocoons are closely united by the inextricable 

 tangle of their surface-threads. In May, a 

 swarm of pigmies will sally forth, ready to 

 get to business in the cabbages. 



Colloquial language uses the terms Midge 

 and Gnat to describe the tiny insects which we 

 often see dancing in a ray of sunlight. There 

 is something of everything in those aerial bal- 

 lets. It is possible that the persecutrix of the 

 Cabbage-caterpillar is there, along with many 

 another; but the name of Midge cannot pro- 

 perly be applied to her. He who says Midge 

 says Fly, Dipteron, two-winged insect; and 

 our friend has four wings, one and all 

 adapted for flying. By virtue of this charac- 

 teristic and others no less important, she be- 

 longs to the order of Hymenoptera.-^ No 

 matter: as our language possesses no more 

 precise term outside the scientific vocabulary, 

 let us use the expression Midge, which pretty 

 well conveys the general idea. Our Midge, 

 the Microgaster, is the size of an average 



^This order includes the Ichneumon-flies, of whom the 

 Microgaster is one. — Translator's Note. 



355 



