Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1889-01-18
FOOD FOR THE BIRDS.
Curious and Interesting Facts About th
Cosy Caterpillar.

Cosy Caterpillar.
The mission OF the caterpillar may
be considered as twofold. He has to
reach the chrysalis stage, from which
he will emerge as butterfly or moth,
and then perpetuate his species; and
he is an admirable machine for the
conversion of vegetable matter into
form in which it can be digested and
relished by birds. He stands to the
feathered world, indeed, in exactly the
same position that the OK and the
sheep occupy in relation to man. AL
though partial to seeds and fruits,
birds are not vegetarians in the broad
sense OF the term, and would starve
had they nothing but leaves to devour,
whether the leaves of the rose or the
cabbage; the caterpillar then comes TO
the rescue and forms the intermediary
link. He possesses an appetite OF ex-
traordinary voracity, and, in the course
Of his not very long life, eats many
hundred times his weight of vegeta-
bles, and converts them into
rich and luscious food for the birds.
1t may be said, that, in some respects,
at least, the instinct OF caterpillars
must be defective, or, knowing that
their plumpness is their danger, they
would eat less. This is no doubt true,
but as IL is true also OF sheep and
bullocks, it can hardly be made the
subject of reproach to the caterpillar.
But, after all, vast as is the number OF
caterpillars who go to feed the birds,
1t can not be said that birds are by
any means their chief enemy. Their
great foe and relentless exterminator
is the ichneumon, against whom none
of their cunning devices Of conceal
ment avail, but who can discover them
in their inmost lurking places. The
ichneumon varies in size as greatly as
does the caterpillar himself. Some OF
them are as long as wasps, although
with slender body, no thicker than a
bodkin; some SO tiny that they can
scarce be seen with the naked eye;
but all are alike in their habits.
Watch one, large or small, as he set
ties upon leaf. Straighiway he be-
gins to hunt up and down with
quick, eager motion, like n dog
quartering u turnip field for part
ridges. Up and down, below and above,
prying into every Granny, he hunts,
hurrying from one leaf TO another until |
he finds caterpillar. He wastes no
time with him; he thrusts the long |
ovipositor through the skin and places |
an egg snugly there. He repeats this
two. three or half a dozen times. ac-
cording to his own size and that to
which the caterpillar will grow. His
young ones must be fed when they are
hatched, and it would not do to lay
moro than the caterpillar can support.
What the sensations of the caterpillar
are when thus treated no one has so
far attempted to explain. 1t gives a
little vince each time the operation is
performed, and then pursues its voca-
ton as quietly as II nothing had hap
pened. There can DO no little doubt
that it is profoundly discouraged; it
must feel that all its efforts to evade |
the foe have been wasted. 1t, doubt
less, knows that it has received its
death wound; that it will never soar in
the air as n bright-winged butterfly,
but that its chrysalis state will be its
last. 1t speaks well, then, for
the sense of duty OF the cater
pillar that it goes doggedly on
as before, eating as largely and
steadily as il nothing had occurred,
and showing no signs of pain or dis
turbance at the birth OF foes who soon
begin TO gnaw away in its interior. 1t
is to be hoped, indeed, that it suffers
but slightly. The organs of the cater
pillar are simple. 1t is n small tube,
and it is probable that its sensibility is
slight; still it is inevitable that it must
suffer more or less; but 1t goes on until
just rs IT is about TO assume the
chrysalis state, or just after 1t has
done so, 1t dies, and the little ichneu-
mons make their way through the
skin, and after brief repose, fly away
to recommence the deadly work of their
parents. 1t is calculated that fully |
eighty per cent of caterpillars are
slain by ichneumons.
The caterpillar is distinguished for
its imperturable good temper; no one
has yet witnessed good stand-up fight
between two caterpillars. Even when
browsing in hundreds upon leaf, each
caterpillar continues its work OF eating,
wholly regardless OF the multitude feed
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