CATERPILLARS. 
129 
pillar comes out by night and ties the fruit to its stalk 
with silk so securely that it will defy the winds for a 
year to come. 
I once took down a pomegranate which was occupied 
by several of these caterpillars, and put it on an egg-cup. 
During the night they came out and fastened it so firmly, 
that when I lifted it in the morning, the egg-cup was 
lifted with it. This is positively the most wonderful 
thing I know, and it grows more wonderful under the 
pantoscope of modern science. For till recently we 
could always explain such things by instinct, which was 
a terse and reverent expression of ignorance. But now 
nous avons change tout cela , and instinct belongs to the 
language of mythology. We cannot substitute intelli- 
gence : that would be worse than instinct. Therefore, 
it is certain that this habit of tying pomegranates to 
their stalks was originally an objectless insanity, which, 
chancing to be advantageous to the lunatic himself, was per- 
petuated by the great law of the survival of the fittest. 
But I have said enough about the dangers which beset 
a caterpillar’s life and the devices by which they are 
met. We must next consider the bearings which these 
things have on the pursuits of the caterpillar hunter. 
K 
