AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 301 



ferent procedure. One of these, called by Bonnet the Mason- 

 wasp, but different from Reaumur's, not only incloses a living 

 caterpillar along with its eggs in the cell, which it carefully 

 closes, but at the expiration of a few days, when the young 

 grub has appeared and has consumed its provision, re-opens 

 the nest, incloses a second caterpillar, and again shuts the 

 mouth : and this operation it repeats until the young one has 

 attained its full growth.^ A similar mode, according to Ro- 

 lander, is followed by Ammophila vulgaris, as well as by the 

 yellowish wasp of Pennsylvania, described by Bartram in the 

 Philosophical Transactions ^, and by another related to Mellinus 

 arvensis, observed by Duhamel ; both of which, however, 

 instead of caterpillars, supply their larvae with a periodical 

 provision of living flies. 



What a crowd of interesting reflections are these most sin- 

 gular facts calculated to excite ! With what foresight must 

 the parent insect be endowed, thus to be aware at what 

 period her eggs will be hatched into grubs, and how long the 

 provision she has laid up will suffice for their support ! What 

 an extent of judgment, thus, in the midst of various other 

 occupations, to know the precise day when a repetition of her 

 cares will be required! What an accuracy of memory, to 

 recollect with such precision the entrance to her cell, which the 

 most acute eye could not discover ; and without compass or 

 direction unerringly to fly to it, often from a great distance, 

 and after the most intricate and varied wanderings ! If we 

 refer the whole to instinct, and to instinct doubtless it must 

 in the main if not wholly be referred, our admiration is not 

 lessened. Instinct, when simple and directed to one object, is 

 less astonishing ; but such a complication of instincts, applied 

 to actions so varied and dissimilar, is beyond our conception. 

 We can but wonder and adore ! 



The female of Perga Leivisii ( Westwood), one of the Ten- 

 tliredinidcB, or Saw-flies, was observed by Mr. Lewis at Ho- 

 barton. Van Diemen's Land, to sit upon the leaf into which 

 she has inserted her eggs, about eighty in number, till they 

 are hatched. This takes place in a few days, and afterwards 



1 Bonnet, ix. 398. 2 37. Pelopceus spirifex 9 3 Reaum. vi. 269. 



