RAVAGES OF CATERPILLARS. 205 



the morning jicrchcd in the midst of their colonies, 

 and devouring tlu-ni by dozens.* 



Those catcrpilhus which lecd upon fiuit-trces and 

 hedge slirubs are still niDrc hkily to attract attention; 

 since, when any of these are abundant, it is scarcely 

 possible to stir out of doors witiiout observing tliem. 

 Thus, in tlie suburbs of London, in the summer of 

 1829, not only the orchards and gardens, but every 

 hedge, swarmed with the lackey caterpillars (CVi.sio- 

 campa ncuslria), which are what naturalists term 

 pohipliao;ous lecders, that is, they do not confine them- 

 selves to a particular sort of tree, but relish a great 

 number. The hawthorn, the black thorn, and the 

 oak, however, seem to be most to their taste; while 

 they are rare on the willow, and we have never ob- 

 served them on the poplar, or the elder. 



Another of what may be appropriately termed the 

 encamping caterpillars, of a much smaller size, 

 and of a diflcrent genus, is the small ermine ( Ypoiio- 

 meuta pculclhi), which does not, besides, feed quite 

 so indiscriminately; but when the bird-cherry {Pru- 

 mis padits), its peculiar food, is not to be had, it will 

 put up with black thorn, plum-tree, hawthorn, and 

 almost any sort of orchard fruit-tree. With respect 

 to such caterpillars as feed on dilTerent plants, R« au- 

 mur and De Geer make the singular remark, that in 

 most cases they would only eat the sort of plant upon 

 which they were originally hatched.! We verified 

 this, in the case of the caterpillar in question, upon 

 two diflcrent nests which we took, in 1806, from the 

 bird-cherrv at Crawtbrdland, in Ayrshire. Upon 

 bringing these to Kilmarnock, we could not readily 

 supply them with the leaves of this tree; and having 

 then only a slight acquaintance with the habits of in- 

 sects, and imagining they would eat any sort of leaf, 

 we tried them with almost every thing green in the 



* J. U. t De Geer, Alcm. i, 319. 



vol.. VI. 18 



