164 THE CATERPILLAR KIND. 



which they have spun for themselves at the end of autumn ; some 

 concealed under the bark of trees, others in the chinks of old 

 walls, and m my buried under ground. From all these a variety 

 of butterflies? are seen to issue in the beginning of spring, and 

 adorn the earliest part of the year with their painted flutterings. 



Some caterpillars do not make any change whatsoever at the 

 approach of winter, but continue to live in their reptile state 

 through all the severity of the season. These choose themselves 

 some retreat, where they may remain undisturbed for months 

 together ; and there they continue motionless, and as insensible 

 as if they were actually dead. Their constitution is such, that 

 food at that time would be useless, and the cold prevents their 

 making those dissipations which require restoration. In general 

 caterpillars of this kind are found in great numbers together 

 inclosed in one common web, that covers them all, and serves 

 to protect them from the injuries of the air. 



Lastly, there are some of the caterpillar kind whose butterflies 

 live all the winter, and who, having fluttered about for some 

 part of the latter end of autumn, seek for some retreat during 

 the winter, in order to answer the ends of propagation at the 

 approach of spring. These are often found lifeless or motion- 

 less in the hollows of trees or the clefts of timber ; but, by being 

 approached to the fire, they recover life and activity, and seem 

 to anticipate the desires of spring. 



In general, however, whether the animal has subsisted in an 

 egg state during the winter ; or whether as a butterfly, bred 

 from an aurelia, in the beginning of spring ; or a butterfly that 

 has subsisted during the winter, and lays eggs as soon as the 

 haves of plants are shot forward ; the whole swarm of cater- 

 pillars are in motion to share the banquet that nature has pro- 

 vided. There is scarcely a plant that has not its own peculiar 

 insects, and some are known to support several of different 

 kinds. Of these, many are hatched from the egg at the foot of 

 the tree, and climb up to its leaves for subsistence ; the eggs of 

 others have been glued by the parent butterfly to the leaves, and 

 they are no sooner excluded from the shell but they find them- 

 selves in the midst of plenty. 



Mhen the caterpillar first bursts from the egg, it is small and 

 feeble ; its appetites are in proportion to its size, and it seems 

 to make no great consumption : but as it increases in magnitude 

 it improves in its appetites ; so that, in its adult caterpillar state, 

 it is the most ravenous of all animals whatsoever. A single 

 caterpillar will eat double its own weight of leaves in a day, and 

 yet seems no way disordered by the meal. — What would man- 

 kind do, if their oxen or their horses were so voracious ? 



These voracious habits, with its slow crawling motion, but 



