MISCHIEF CATERPILLARS CAN DO. 
67 
wasted. They are as much exposed to the anger 
of the bees as their parent was; and to shelter 
themselves from their stings, they work up grains 
of wax, into hollow passages, and cover them 
with a web of silk. In these covered ways they 
lie secure ; and pass, and repass, like rabbits in a 
warren. They work almost as hard as the bees 
do, and very soon their winding passages pierct 
through the comb in every direction. 
The bees are constantly being entangled in 
the webs, as in a snare, and sticking fast by their 
wings or their legs. Indeed the annoyance 
becomes at last so intolerable, that they have 
been known to desert the hive, and seek another 
habitation. 
Another little caterpillar is very fond of sugar; 
and as it lives in the West Indies, it is the pest 
of the sugar plantations. It bores into the foot¬ 
stalk of the leaf, and sucks away the sweet juice 
of the cane without killing it, or even spoiling 
its appearance. But the cane is useless, for it 
yields no sugar; and the planter dreads this 
minute enemy as much as he does the storms 
and hurricanes. His whole plantation will often 
be destroyed, and he himself entirely ruined. 
I need , not go on repeating instances, of the 
destructive habits of the caterpillar. I will only 
add, that in the hop-gardens of Kent and Essex, 
