II 



the cocoon state it eats nothing, some kinds remaining nearly a year in this transition state, 

 but yet during that time undergoing a complete change, the inside at first being a sort of 

 pulp almost resembling part of the inside of a bird's egg, but at the time for the full-grown 

 insect to fly, this pulp seems to have formed wings, ready to enlarge immediately on its emergency, 

 and all parts proper for the insect, including such digestive organs as are necessary for its entire 

 change in the manner of feeding, which is now, through a delicate trunk only, to enable it to 

 feed on dew or such like substance. 



Sometimes the caterpillars of some species almost become a nuisance, and threaten the 

 total destruction of some kinds of trees and plants but those which appear in some seasons in 

 such profusion come only, and unaccountably so, very occasionally, and although they perhaps 

 nearly strip the trees of their leaves, Nature has so arranged it that all the caterpillars of each of the 

 separate kinds should be hatched at similar seasons of the year and at these only, so that, though 

 the trees may be stripped of their leaves, most of the kinds could put out a second growth so 

 as to prevent the trees being killed outright. 



I have known the caterpillars of the buff tip moth, in an occasional year, strip oak trees 

 of their leaves, and the moth be common for the year, and in after years hardly any are seen 

 in the neighbourhood. So it is with the swarms of locusts in foreign countries which 

 occasionally occur, but without any reason we can find out their appearance in a following 

 year may be in trifling numbers only. 



As a rule dry seasons suit insect life best. In these sometimes the common white butterflies 

 become very numerous, and the caterpillars are very destructive, as they seem to be produced 



