VITALITY OF INSECTS. 207 



Thus grasshoppers will sometimes outlive immersion in boil- 

 ing-water, or bear, without expiring, the removal of their intes- 

 tines ; a mite has been known to live eleven weeks, without 

 food, gummed to the point of a pin; and Swammerdam 

 affirms that the chameleon-fly will retain its vital powers for 

 forty-eight hours after being immersed in spirits of wine. 

 The wonderful vitality of insects is shown also in the compa- 

 ratively little pain they appear to feel from injuries, which to us 

 would occasion excruciating torment, or instant death. This 

 insensibility is manifestly a wise and merciful provision of the 

 Almighty towards those of His creatures which, of all others, 

 are most liable to accidents from the number and variety of their 

 enemies. 



Many insects seek to escape from danger by feigning 

 death. The larva of Hydrophilus piceus becomes suddenly flac- 

 cid and soft on being touched, as if it had long ceased to live ; 

 and the common dungchafer, when touched, or in fear, sets out 

 its legs as stiff as if they were made of iron-wire, and remains 

 perfectly motionless. At the approach of danger the Buprestida? 

 and many of the weevil-beetles drop down from the leaf on 

 which they feasted, and then even the keenest eye is frequently 

 unable to distinguish them from the ground on which they fell. 

 The caterpillars of the looper- 

 moths when at rest support ^ 



themselves for hours by means 

 of their hinder-feet only, rais- 

 ing the body high in the air, 

 and preserving it in a stiff 

 straight line, or in a curve. 

 The colour of the skin exactly 

 resembles that of the stem or 

 bark of the tree upon which 



the caterpillar feeds, and so caterpillar ef Looper-moth. 



complete is the deception tnat 



a person, after having had one of these deceiving masqueraders 

 pointed out to him, can hardly be persuaded that it is anything 

 else than a twig. Thanks to its attitude, it deceives the numerous 

 small warblers which are constantly searching for insects among 

 foliage ; while other caterpillars, such as those of the hawk- 

 moths, endeavour to repel the attacks of their enemies by 



