794 



A HISTORY OF 



her brood only upon those plants that afford 

 good nourishment to its posterity. Though 

 the little winged animal has been fed itself 

 upon dew, or the honey of flowers, yet it 

 makes choice for its young of a very different 

 provision, and lays its eggs on the most un- 

 savoury plants; the rag-weed, the cabbage, 

 or the nettle. Thus every butterfly chooses 

 not the plant most grateful to it in its \vinged 

 state; but such as it has fed upon in its- rep- 

 tile form. 



All the eggs of butterflies are attached to 

 the leaves of the favourite plant, by a sort of 

 size or glue; where they continue unobserv- 

 ed, unless carefully sought after. The eggs 

 are sometimes placet round the tender shoots 

 of plants, in the form of bracelets, consisting 

 of above two hundred in each, and generally 

 surrounding the shoot like a ring upon a fin- 

 ger. Some butterflies secure their eggs from 



the injuries of air, by covering them with hair 

 plucked from their own bodies, as birds s-ome- 

 times are seen to make their nests; so that 

 their eggs are thus kept warm, and also en- 

 tirely concealed. 



All the tribe of female moths lay their eggs 

 a short time after they leave the aurelia ; bnt 

 there are many butterflies that flutter about 

 the whole summer, and do not think of laying. 

 till the winter begins to warn them of their 

 approaching end : some even continue the 

 whole winter in the hollows of trees, and do 

 not provide for posterity until the beginning 

 of April, when they leave their retreats, de- 

 posite their eggs, and die. Their eggs soon 

 begin to feel the genial influence of the sea- 

 son : the little animals burst from them in 

 their caterpillar state, to become aurelias and 

 butterflies in their turn, and thus to continue 

 the round of nature. 



CHAPTER 



OF THE ENEMIES OF THE CATERPILLAR. 



NATURE, though it has rendered some 

 animals surprisingly fruitful, yet ever takes 

 care to prevent their too great increase. 

 One set of creatures is generally opposed to 

 another : and those are chiefly the most pro- 

 lific that are, from their imbecility, incapable 

 of making any effectual defence. The cater- 

 pillar has, perhaps, of all other animals, the 

 greatest number of enemies ; and seems only 

 to exist by its surprising fecundity. Some 

 animals devour them by hundreds; others, 

 more minute, yet more dangerous, mangle 

 them in various ways : so that, how great 

 soever their numbers may be, their destroyers 

 are in equal proportion. Indeed, if we con- 

 sider the mischiefs these reptiles are capable 

 of occasioning, and the various damages we 

 sustain from their insatiable rapacity, it is 

 happy for the other ranks of nature, that 

 there are thousands of fishes, birds, and even 

 insects, that live chiefly upon caterpillars, 

 and make them their most favourite repast. 



When we described the little birds that 



live in our gardens, and near our houses, as 

 destructive neighbours, sufficient attention 

 was not paid to the services which they are 

 frequently found to render us. It has been 

 proved, that a single sparrow and its mate, 

 that have young ones, destroy above three 

 thousand caterpillars in a week ; not to men- 

 tion several butterflies, in which numberless 

 caterpillars are destroyed in embryo. It is 

 in pursuit of these reptiles that \ve are favour- 

 ed with the visits of many of our most beau- 

 tiful songsters, that amuse us during their 

 continuance, and leave us when the caterpil- 

 lars disappear. 



The maxim which has often been urged 

 against man, that he, of all other animals, is 

 the only creature that is an enemy to his own 

 kind, and that the human species only are 

 found to destroy each other, has been adopt- 

 ed by persons who never considered the his- 

 tory of insects. Some of the caterpillar kind 

 in p-.r'icular, that seem fitted only to live 

 upou leaves and plants, will, however, eat 



