THE CABBAGE-CATERPILLAR 305 



exact truth. He is our foe who eats or attacks our crops ; 

 our friend is he who feeds upon our foes. Everything 

 is reduced to a frenzied contest of appetites. 



In the name of the might that is mine, of trickery, of 

 highway robbery, clear out of that, you, and make room 

 for me : give me your seat at the banquet ! That is the 

 inexorable law of the world of animals and more or less, 

 alas, in our own world as well ! 



Now, among our entomological auxiliaries, the smallest 

 in size are the best at their work. One of them is 

 charged with watching over the cabbages. She is so 

 small, she works so discreetly that the gardener does not 

 know her, has not even heard of her. Were he to see 

 her by accident, flitting around the plant which she pro- 

 tects, he would take no notice of her, would not suspect 

 the service rendered. I propose to set forth the tiny 

 midget's deserts. 



Scientists call her Microgaster glomeratus. What 

 exactly was in the mind of the author of the name 

 Microgaster, which means little belly? Did he intend to 

 allude to the insignificance of the abdomen? Not so. 

 However slight the belly may be, the insect nevertheless 

 possesses one, correctly proportioned to the rest of the 

 body, so that the classic denomination, far from giving 

 us any information, might mislead us, were we to trust 

 it wholly. Nomenclature, which changes from day to 

 day and becomes more and more cacophonous, is an 

 unsafe guide. Instead of asking the animal what its 

 name is, let us begin by asking : 



"What can you do? What is your business ?" 



