306 THE WONDERS OF INSTINCT 



Well, the Microgaster's business is to exploit the 

 Cabbage-caterpillar, a clearly defined business admitting 

 of no possible confusion. Would we behold her works? 

 In the spring, let us inspect the neighborhood of the 

 kitchen-garden. Be our eye never so unobservant, we 

 shall notice against the walls or on the withered grasses 

 at the foot of the hedges some very small yellow cocoons, 

 heaped into masses the size of a hazel-nut. 



Beside each group lies a Cabbage-caterpillar, some- 

 times dying, sometimes dead, and always presenting a 

 most tattered appearance. These cocoons are the work 

 of the Microgaster's family, hatched or on the point of 

 hatching into the perfect stage ; the caterpillar is the dish 

 whereon that family has fed during its larval state. The 

 epithet glomeratus, which accompanies the name of 

 Microgaster, suggests this conglomeration of cocoons. 

 Let us collect the clusters as they are, without seeking 

 to separate them, an operation which would demand both 

 patience and dexterity, for the cocoons are closely united 

 by the inextricable tangle of their surface-threads. In 

 May a swarm of pigmies will sally forth, ready to get to 

 business in the cabbages. 



Colloquial language uses the terms Midge and Gnat 

 to describe the tiny insects which we often see dancing 

 in a ray of sunlight. There is something of everything 

 in those aerial ballets. It is possible that the persecutrix 

 of the Cabbage-caterpillar is there, along with many an- 

 other; but the name of Midge cannot properly be applied 

 to her. He who says Midge says Fly, Dipteron, two- 

 winged insect; and our friend has four wings, one and 



