AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 343 



of the insect on which it preys ! Thus the caterpillar 

 continues to eat, to digest, and to move, apparently little 

 injured, to the last, and only perishes when the parasitic 

 grub within it no longer requires its aid. What would 

 be the impression which a similar instance amongst the 

 race of quadrupeds would make upon us ? — If, for ex- 

 ample, an animal — such as some impostors have pre- 

 tended to carry within them — should be found to feed 

 upon the inside of a dog ; devouring only those parts not 

 essential to life, while it cautiously left uninjured the 

 heart, arteries, lungs, and intestines, — should we not re- 

 gard such an instance as a perfect prodigy, as an exam- 

 ple of instinctive forbearance almost miraculous ? 



Some Ichneumons, instead of burying their eggs in 

 the body of the larvae that are to serve their young for 

 food, content themselves with gluing them to the skin of 

 their prey, which the young grubs pierce as soon as 

 hatched. Another tribe, whose activity and perseverance 

 are equally conspicuous, which includes the beautiful ge- 

 nus Chrysis and many other hymenopterous insects, imi- 

 tating the insidious cuckoo, contrive to introduce their 

 eggs into the nests in which bees and other insects have 

 deposited theirs. With this view they are constantly on 

 the watch, and, the moment the unsuspecting mother 

 has quitted her cell for the purpose of collecting a store 

 of food or materials, glide into it and leave an egg, the 

 germe of a future assassin of the larva that is to spring 

 from that deposited by its side. 



The females of the insects of which we have been speak- 

 ing, in providing for their offspring, are saved the trou- 

 ble of furnishing them with any habitation. Either they 



