576 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



across it, they are too apt to seize upon it and devour it in sheer 

 wantonness, even though the nest be full of their legitimate 

 prey. 



Knowing the hahits of this grub, a French entomologist, 

 M. Boisgerard, managed very ingeniously to avail himself of its 

 devouring capacities. There is a well-known insect, Bombyx 

 dispar, popularly called the Gipsy Moth, which is very common 

 in France, though scarce in most parts of England. The lai'va 

 of this moth is destructive to trees, feeding on their leaves, and 

 then retreating to a cunning little hiding-place, in some crevice 

 of the bark. Finding that his trees were infested with these 

 caterpillars, M. Boisgerard procured a number of female Calo- 

 somas, and placed them on the trees. They laid their eggs, and 

 in due season the larvae were hatched. In process of time the 

 destructive grubs increased so much that they ate all the noxious 

 caterpillars, and at the end of the third year the trees were 

 cleared, and the Calosoma beetles had to go elsewhere for a 

 living. 



In England the Calosoma is exceedingly rare, all specimens 

 hitherto captured having been apparently blown over the sea 

 from the Continent or brought in ships. Towards the South of 

 France it is plentiful enough, as is needed from the enormous 

 multitudes of crop-destroying caterpillars on which it feeds. 

 There is, however, a closely allied species, Calosoma inquisitor, 

 which is not so scarce, and, although comparatively seldom seen, 

 may be captured by those who know where to look for it. I 

 have taken it in Bagley Wood, near Oxford. 



The reader may remember that two species of wasp, namely 

 Vespa vulgaris and Vespa germanica, will work harmoniously at 

 the same nest. This curious sociability, which is contrary to the 

 usual custom of nature, is shared by moths as well as wasps. When 

 experimenting upon the nests of this species, M. Eeaumur found 

 that several distinct broods of caterpillars would spin a common 

 web and live in peace together, just as if they had been the off- 

 spring of one mother. Mr. Eennie, however, carried the experi- 

 ments still farther, and found that two different species would 

 act in the same social manner. 



" We ourselves ascertained during the present summer (1829) 

 that this principle of sociality is not confined to the same 



