U> MODERN ARRANGEMENT OF 



other spiny caterpillars ; nor is their dwelling in 

 the folded leaf so securely constructed, as to prevent 

 the intrusion of such unwelcome visiters, a circum- 

 stance always attended with a mortal result." 



Professor Rennie mentions a similar circumstanc 

 He says, " We happened to see a remarkable ii 

 stance of this last summer, (1828,) in the case of 

 one of the Lilac caterpillars, which had changed 

 into a chrysalis within the closely folded leaf. A 

 small ichneumon, aware, it should seem, of the 

 very spot where the chrysalis lay within the leaf, 

 was seen boring through it with her ovipositor, and 

 introducing her eggs, through the punctures thus 

 made, into the body of the dormant insect. We 

 allowed her to lay all her eggs, about six in num- 

 ber, and then put the leaf under an inverted glass. 

 In a few days the eggs of the Cuckoo Fly were 

 hatched, the grubs devoured the lilac chrysalis, and 

 finally changed into pupae, in a case of yellow silk, 

 and into perfect insects like their parent." : 



" There must then," continues M. Sepp, " I 

 think, be some other reason for these caterpillars 

 hiding themselves in this manner, and I am in- 

 clined to believe it can be no other than their de- 

 sire to be solitary. In accordance with this view, 

 we find the eggs always laid singly and apart ; 

 and it is well known to naturalists, that all cater- 



* Insect Architecture, p. 174. 



