The Cionus 
more. This multiplicity gives us food for re- 
flection. When fully matured, the capsules 
of the scollop-leaved mullein are small, 
greatly inferior in size to those of other 
plants of the same genus. When still very 
young, green and tender, those containing 
the eggs are hardly as big as half a grain 
of wheat. There is not food for so many 
feasters in so tiny a morsel; there would not 
be enough for one. 
All mothers are provident. The exploiter 
of the mullein cannot have endowed her six 
or more nurselings with such scanty posses- 
sions. For these various reasons, I doubt 
at first whether these are really the Cionus’ 
eggs. What follows is not calculated to de- 
crease my hesitation. The orange eggs 
hatch out, producing grubs which within 
twenty-four hours abandon their exiguous 
natal chamber. They emerge through the 
orifice which has been left open; they spread 
over the capsule, cropping its down, a pasture 
sufficient for their first mouthfuls. They de- 
scend to the thin little twigs, which they strip 
of their bark, and gradually move on to the 
small ajacent leaves, where the banquet is 
continued. Let us leave them to grow. 
313 
