ENEMIES OF THE CATERPILLAR. 



505 





united, the female flies off with the male on 

 her back, who seems entirely passive upon 

 the occasion. 



But the females of many moths and butter- 

 flies seein to have assumed their airy form for 

 no other reason but to fecundate their eggs, 

 and lay them. They are not seen fluttering 

 about in quest of food or a mate : all that 

 passes during their short lives, is a junction 

 with the male of about half an hour ; after 

 which they deposit their eggs and die, with- 

 out taking any nourishment, or seeking any. 

 It may be observed, however, that in all the 

 females of this tribe, they are impregnated by 

 the male by one aperture, and lay their eggs 

 by another. 



The eggs of female butterflies are disposed 

 in the body like a bed of chaplets ; which, 

 when excluded, are usually oval, and of a 

 whitish colour: some, however, are quite round; 

 and others flatted like a turnip. The cover- 

 ing, or shell of the egg, though solid, is thin 

 and transparent : and in proportion as the 

 caterpillar grows within the egg, the colours 

 change, and are distributed differently. The 

 butterfly seems very well instructed by nature 

 in its choice of the plant, or the leaf, where it 

 shall deposit its burthen. Each egg contains 

 but one caterpillar : and it is requisite that 

 this little animal, when excluded, should be 

 near its peculiar provision. The butterfly, 

 therefore, is careful to place her brood only 

 upon those plants that afford good nourish- 

 ment 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 unsavoury plants ; the 

 rag-weed, the cabbage, or the nettle. Thus 

 every butterfly chooses not the plant most 

 grateful to it in its winged state ; but such as 

 it has fed upon in its reptile 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 unobserved, 

 unless carefully sought after. The eggs are 

 sometimes placed 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 finger. 

 Some butterflies secure their eggs from the 

 injuries of air, by covering them with hair 

 plucked from their own bodies, as birds some- 

 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 ; but 

 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 



VOL. II. 



whole winter in the hollows of trees, and do 

 not provide for posterity until the beginning 

 of April, when they leave their retreats, 

 deposit their eggs, and die. Their eggs soon 

 begin to feel the genial influence of the season : 

 the little animals burst from them in their 

 caterpillar state, to become aurelias and but- 

 terflies in their turn, and thus to continue the 

 round of nature. 



CHAP. IV. 



OP THE ENEMIES OF THE CATERPILLAR, 



NATURE, though it has rendered some ani- 

 mals 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 prolific that are, 

 from their imbecility, incapable of making any 

 effectual defence. The caterpillar has, per- 

 haps, 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 consider the mischiefs these 

 reptiles are capable of occasioning, and the 

 various damages we sustain from their insa- 

 tiable 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 fa- 

 vourite repast. 



When we described the little birds that live 

 in our gardens, and near our houses, as des- 

 tructive neighbours, sufficient attention was 

 not paid to the services which they are fre- 

 quently 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 we are favoured 

 with the visits of many of our most beautiful 

 songsters, that amuse us during their continu- 

 ance, arid leave us when the caterpillars disap- 

 pear. 



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 adopted 

 by persons who never considered the history 

 of insects. Some of the caterpillar kind, in 

 particular, that seem fitted only to live upon 

 leaves and plants, will, how ever, eat each other; 

 3s 



