30& INSTINCT OF ANIMALS. 



these insects hate never seen, and never will see again, the 

 e gg> or a similar maggot; and the wants of the maggot have 

 not the least resemblance to those of the insect that labours 

 for it. 

 stSrf 'the Amon S thousands of instances, that might be adduced, 



sphex. Mr. Dupont has chosen but one, that of the sphex, or ich- 



neumon wasp; In this he cannot be accused of having taken 

 an easy example. The following is its economy. During 

 its existence as a perfect insect, it lives entirely on flowers. 

 When it is ready to lay, it forms a cylindrical hole in clayey 

 sand, and deposits an egg at the bottom of it. It thert 

 seeks on cabbages a small green caterpillar, on which it 

 never preyed before; pierces it with its sting, so as to 

 weaken it to such a degree, that it may be unable to resist 

 the maggot, which is afterward to issue from theegg and feed 

 upon it, yet not so as to kill it, that it may not putrefy ; 

 rolls it up in a circle ; and lays it in the hole upon the egg. 

 It successively proceeds in quest of eleven more of these, 

 which it treats in a similar manner. It then closes the hole,, 

 and dies. The little maggot is hatched, devours the twehc -. 

 caterpillars in succession, and changes to a chrysalis in the 

 hole. As soon as its final metamorphosis is completed, it 

 issues from its subterranean abode a winged insect, to enjoy. 

 itself among the flowers, till it is ready to lay, when it re- 

 peats the operations its mother had performed before it, 

 and with caterpillars of exactly the same kind. 

 How explained Mr. Dupont supposes in his explanation, that the perfect 

 y t ^author. j nsec £ re tains the remembrance of the sensations it expe- 

 rienced in the state of a maggot, though its form and organs 

 arc totally changed. He must likewise suppose, though he 

 does not expressly say it, that the sphex can afterward dis- 

 tinguish by the sight* the caterpillar, and the sand, of which 

 it acquired a knowledge only by feeling, and this by its an- 

 cient feeling of a maggot; for the maggot is blind, it lives 

 under ground, and when it there becomes a winged insect 

 the caterpillars are devoured, Lastly, Mr. Dupont dares 



* This is not necessary : it may distinguish them by the smell, or 

 in some other way ; for it by no means follows, that, because man 

 has only five senses, an insect has no more. W, N. 



not 



