FLOWERS AND INSECTS 151 



a clicking noise like the gritting of teeth. 

 Probably it was his mandibles striking to- 

 gether. In the evening he had a hundred 

 cocoons fastened to his sides and back. The 

 larvae of the ichneumon wasp that had 

 been preying on his muscles, having grown 

 from eggs deposited by that parasitic crea- 

 ture beneath the caterpillar's hide, had 

 eaten their way to the surface and spun 

 their cases. The fellow grew thin and died 

 in a couple of days. His mate went through 

 the same experience grubs, cocoons, and 

 death. 



Hardly less beautiful than the butterflies 

 are the dragon- flies with soap-bubble colors 

 on their wings. I found one of unusual 

 size with a broken wing in the yard. His 

 best color was in his eyes, which were like 

 cabochon sapphires, very large. On at- 

 tempting to fly, he would fall to the ground, 

 or cling to a leaf and lift his tail in a half- 

 circle as if trying to sting. I found him 

 dead on the walk in the evening. 



A colored man brought to me one of 

 these handsome dragon-flies, or " devil's- 

 darning-needles " as they used to be called 



