Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/188

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comes on very quick, and fometimes continues many hours, fometimes even three or four days.

The explication of this by Mr. iReaumur, is only this, that thefe caterpillars have, befide their coarfe and large hairs which we fee them covered with, a vail number of others, which are fo extremely fmall and fine, as to be invifible to our eyes. Thefe are {harp-pointed, very rigid, and are loofely fattened to the creature's body ; fo that they feparate from it on the lighteft touch : thefe make a fort of atmofphere of fine^ darts furrounding them every way ; and many of the fpecies of hairy caterpillars have evidently a method of darting thefe out in great numbers. When the hand of any one is put toward this creature, fo as to come within the reach of thefe fmall darts, it immediately difcharges a whole fhower of them, and of thefe a great number enter the pores of the fkin, and a great number more He along upon it, readv to enter, as foon vis any accident changes their pofture. If while the hand he thus covered with thefe weapons, whofe frnallnefs, tho' it makes them invifible, yet does not incapacitate them from be- ing very troublefome, be moved up to the face, or the cheeks, or eyes, rubbed with it, it is eafy to conceive, that many of thefe little darts will be made to lodge in the fkin on which the hand where they lie is rubbed ; and the confequence muff. be a greater itching, pain, and fwelling in thefe tender parts, than on the hand. And thus is produced by fimple means, what is by many effeemed the effect of a piercing and pene- trating poifon. And thus are the ftrangeft appearances often explained by the moll fimple means.

As it has been obferved, that the abundance of caterpillars would be a terrible mifchief to mankind if they were fubject to no accidents in their increafe, it may be proper to examine what are the means by which gracious providence has pro- vided againft an over fupply of them. Many of the fpecies are great devourers, and feed on one another ; but they have all much more deftructive enemies ; thefe are reptiles like themfelves, a' fort of worms, in a ft ate of paflage, at the end of which they are to pafs thro' the chryfalis ftate into that of flies or beetles. Even the fmall fpecies of butterfly, which lives on the celandine, has its enemies proportioned to its own fize j and the fame leaf of the plant is ufually covered at the fame time with thefe butterflies, their chryfalifes, and their caterpillars, and with thefe fmall beetles, their chryfalifes and worms all confufedly together ; and by their frnallnefs they are not eafily diflinguifhed one from another. The cater- pillars of this fmal! fpecies are very unhappily circumftanced ; they have not only an open war to carry on with the worms of thefe beetles, which are continually attacking them, and piercing their bodies and fucking their juices; but they have much more terrible inteftine enemies, a fort of fmall worms which they carry. within their bodies, and which eat away their flefh within the fkin.

The firft people who obferved thefe creatures, fuppofed them the young of the caterpillars ; but this was not only wholly out of the courfe of nature, but the cruelty of the thing gave it no title to belief. The true hiftory of thefe little worms bred within the body of the caterpillar, is, that they are not its children,, but its moll cruel enemies ; they are depofited there by a fpecies of fly, which at the'time of laying her eggs pierces the fkin of the caterpillar with an inftrument fhe car- ries on the hinder part of her body for that purpofe ; in the fame manner in which the fly which occafions the galls on oaks, pierces their wood. She depofits her eggs in the wound fhe has made, the fkin of the caterpillar heals over the place, , and the creature feels no inconvenience at firft, from the wound ; but the heat of her body foon hatches thefe eggs, and they producing maggots, which are naturally flefh-eaters, they feed on the flefh among which they are produced, and eat the miferable creature up alive, without breaking its skin ; and they are often fo numerous, that when they are increafed to their deftined fize, they fill up the whole body of the ca- terpillar, fcarce leaving a fufEcient fpace for the entrails. What might appear very lingular, is, that during all this time the animal which carries thefe inteftine enemies, feems well and at eafe ; it eats and grows larger, a3 it would do without them. Mr. Reaumur inquiring into the reafon of this, found that caterpillars have a long canal reaching 'from the mouth to the anus, and ferving for ftomach, cefophagus and inteftines ; and befides this, there is throughout its whole body, a cellular and fatty fubffance. It is on this that thefe devourers feed, with- out touching the inteftine, or breaking its communication, which would kill the animal, and deprive them of a fupply of food. '1 hus they are fupplied from the great quantity of food the caterpillar takes, with a renewed flefh ; and when the caterpillars which are infefted with them are opened, this al- ways is found to be the cafe ; they being lodged in, and feeding intirely on this cellular fubftance, or the fat contained in it.

When thefe worms have arrived at their full growth, they come out of the body of the caterpillar, but this not all the fame way, or by any natural paifage, but each eats its way thro' the fkin. As foon as they are got out they go to work, to fpin themfelves dells, or cafes for their transformation : thefe they make upon the fpot, and place them fide by fide, either upon the body of the caterpillar, or clofe by itj and

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flick fo clofe to one another, that they appear one cafe or fhell. This is a circumflance which has contributed not a little to the belief of their being the natural produce of the caterpillar, as people have thought they were all inclofed in one cafe of that creature's fpining for them. The caterpillar dies of the wounds it has received by their eating their way out, added to the lofs of what they had eat from k ; and af- ter a few days, the worms hatch out of this their chryfalis ftate into that of the fly, like the parent that lodged the eggs, from whence they arofe in the body of their fuppofed parent. Sometimes the caterpillar enters into its chryfalis irate before thefe worms arrive at the time of their going out of its body ; and in this ffate fometimes they eat thro' the fides of the cafe, but more frequently they remain in it, and become flies there, faving themfelves, by this means, the trouble of fpining. Some fpecies of caterpillars are fo greatly infefted with thefe worms, that they are very feldom found free from them ; and it is not more than one in twenty that by this means comes to the butterfly-ftate. Here then is one great flop to the in- creafe of thefe deftrudive anima's. Another caufe of their deflruction is alfo very common, and nut lefs lingular : a fort of flies lay their eggs in the eggs of the butterflies ; and the maggots produced from thefe eat up the embryo ca- terpillars.

Thefe worms are very terrible to the caterpillars by their number, but the fmall birds are much more fo by their flrength; multitudes of caterpillars are annually deftroyed by thefe creatures, either for their own food, or for that of their young. In this alfo there feems a fort of regularity ; for as the caterpillars have their tafte for pecu iar fpecies of plants, fo the birds have theirs for peculiar fpecies of caterpillars. In general, they do not love the hairy kinds ; but tho' this ac- cident is a defence to them in that ftate, it is but a tempo- rary one ; for they are as fubjefl to be devoured when butter- flies, as thofe of the fmooth forts; and thofe which have efcaped danger in their two firft ftates of life, are by their fize and confpicuous colours, very much expofed to thefe de- vourers in this their teft ftage. Each of their ftates has its appropriated enemies; and it is the fame with refped to us, whether it is in the caterpillar, the chryfalis, or the fly- flat?, that the creature is deftroyed; fince the propagation is equally flopped in which ever it happens, provided only that it be before the laying of the eggs ; all the difference, at the utmofl, however, is, that if they are deftroyed in the be- ginning of the caterpillar-ftate, a few leaves or herbs are faved that would have been eaten by them. Memoirs Acad. Science Ann. 1736. See Tab. of infects.

Pafilio-m;;/™, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome au- thors to a feries of finall infefls, which feem to be of a middle nature, between the fly and the butterfly clafles. Its wings are in part covered with thofe fcales in form of dull, which render the wings of the butterfly kinds opake, and in part arc tranfparent and glafly. Reaumur has called the wings tides vitreis, glafly wings. Reaumur's Hift. of Inf.

PAPILION-fowviw, in natural hiftory, a name given by the French authors to a fort of butterflies, which while they feed keep upon the wing with a humming noife like that of the humble-bee. Reaumur's Hift. of Jufefls. See the articles Eperviers and Papiljo.

? ATlLiox-a-queue, tailed butterflies, a name given by the French naturalifts to a fort of butterfly, of which there are feveral fpecies. The feeds of the wings of thefe butterflies are jagg- ed, and one of the jaggs runs out fo far beyond the reft as°to reprefent a fort of tail iffuing from the creaiure. Reaumur's Hift. of Infedls.

PAPILLARIS, in botany, a name ufed by fome authors for the common lamp/ami, or nippk-wcrt. Chabraus, p. 318. See the article Lampsana.

PAPILLOSE, among botamfts. See Lfaf.

PAPIO, in zoology, the name of thofe fpecies of monkeys which we call baboons. The word feems not yet properly determined as to the fpecies which are to be comprehended under it ; but what we ufually acknowledge for papianes or baboons, are fuch as have long heads like a dog, and very long tails, and are of the number of thofe called by authors cynocephaH.

PAPULAE, a name ufed by many authors for eruptions of va- rious kinds upon the fkin, but appropriated by Bontius to thofe reddifll and rough eruptions thrown out upon the bodv by fweat in the Eaft Indies. Thefe are thrown out all over the furface of the body, and at their firft appearance are ac- companied with an intolerable itching and defire of fcratch- ing.

Strangers are more expofed to thefe eruptions at their firft ar- rival in thefe countries, than the natives, or thofe who have long refided there ; as they are alfo to the bitings of the muf- quitos, than which they are not lefs frequent: hence a new comer into the country is diftinguifhed by thefe troublefome maladies. The natives call him organ bearon, that is, a new arrived man ; and tell him thefe complaints are a tax upon him for confirming the provifions. They call themfelves or- gan lamme, or veterans, and honour with the fame name fuch flrangers as have lived long in the country. The papults are in themfelves no way dangerous ; but when they are rafbly and ignorantly treated, or when the fkin is torn

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