7'i MISCHIEFS PRODUCED BY INSECTS. 
plants. The West Indian planters are 
great sufferers from the caterpillars of a 
small moth, which feed upon the cotton 
shrub. This species is so remarkably 
short a time in coming to its, perfect fly 
state, as to have several successions dur- 
ing the summer; and as each female 
moth lays four or five hundred eggs, you 
may imagine how great the i^ncrease must 
be. 
Lucy. Is there no method of getting 
rijd of these hungry swarms ? 
Mother, Many ways have been tried, 
and with various success ; but I believe 
their most effectual destroyer is a small 
wren, which feeds on them. There is a 
curious circumstance respecting this ca- 
terpillar, that, while it is eating, a fragrant 
odour is diffused through the air, although 
neither the creature nor the cotton plant 
have, separately, any smell. 
Lucy. That is very surprising indeed ; 
but perhaps, mamma, the sweet smell is 
to attract the wren, and point out where 
they are. 
