te NATURAL History. 
upon leaves and plants, will, however, eat each other; and the firong? 
eft will devour the weak, in preference to their vegetable food. ‘That 
which lives upon the oak, is found to feize any of its companions 
which it conveniently can, by the firft rings, and infli@ a deadly wound 
ft then feafts in tranquillity on its prey; and leaves nothing of the ani- 
mal but the hutk- 
But it is not from each other they have moft to fear, as in generat 
they are inoffenfive; and many of this tribe are found 'to live in a kind 
of fociety. Many kinds wf ‘flies lay their eggs either upon, or within 
their bodies ; and as thefe turn into worms, thé caterpillar is feen to nou- 
rith a fet of inteftine enemies within its body, that muft fhortly be its 
deftrugion: Nature having taught flies, as well as all other animals; 
the fureft methods of perpetuating their kind.— Towards the end 0 
Auguft,” fays Reaumur, “I perceived a little fly, of a beautiful gold 
colour, bufily employed in the body of a large carerpillar, of that kind 
which feeds apon cabbage. I gently feparated that part of the leaf on 
which thefe infeéts were placed, from the reft of the plant, and placed 
it where I might’ obferve them more at my eafe. The fly wholly 
taken up by the bufinefs in which it was employed, walked along the 
eaterpillar’s body, now and then remaining fixed to a particular fpot- 
Upon this occafion, I perceived it every now and then dart a ftings 
which it carried at the end of its tail, into the caterpillar’s body, and 
‘then drew it out again, to repeat the fame operation in another place- 
It was not difficult for me to conjecture the bufinefs which engaged this 
animal fo earneftly ; its whole aim was to depofit its eggs in the cater- 
pillar’s body ; which was to ferve as a proper retreat for bringing them 
‘to perfection. The reptile thus rudely treated, feemed to bear all very 
patiently, only moving a little when ftung too deeply ; which, how- 
ever, the fly feemed entirely to difregard. 1 took particular care to 
feed this caterpillar ; which feemed to me to continue as voracious and 
vigorous as any of the reft of this kind. In about ten or twelve days» 
‘it changed into an aurelia, which feemed ‘gradually to decline, and 
‘died: upon examining its internal parts, the animal was entirely de- 
voured by worms; which, however, did not come to perfedion, as it 
is probable they had not enough to fuftain them within.” 
What the French philofopher perceived upon this oceafion, is every 
day to be feen in feveral of the larger kinds of caterpillars; whofe bodies 
ferve as a nelt to various flies, that very carefully depofit their eggs 
within them. The large cabbage caterpillar is fo firbject to its injuries 
that, at certain feafons, it is much eafier to find them with than with- 
eut them. The ichneumon fly, as it is called, particularly infefts thefe 
reptiles, and prevents. their fecundity. This fly is of allothers, the 
moft formidable to infects of various kinds. The fpider, that deftroys 
the ant, the moth, and the butterfly, yet often falls a prey to the ich- 
neumon ; who purfues the robber to his retreat, and, defpiling his nets 
tears him in pieces, in the very labyrinth he has made. This infecty 
as redoubtable as the little quadruped that deftroys the crocodile, has 
teceived the fame name; and from its deftrnGion of the caterpillat 
tribe, is probably more ferviceable to mankind. This infe@, I fayy 
makes the body of the caterpillar the place for depofiting its eggs 5 t0 
the number of ten, fifteen, or twenty. As they are laid in tholé 
* parts which are not mortal, the reptile Rill continues to'live, and “ 
feed? 
