Note 465 — LETTER XXX. (continued 2)

Bonnet (ii. 18) mentions, that the young larvæ of a butterfly (Pieris Cratægi), after devouring the exuviæ of the eggs from which they were hatched, gnawed those which were not so: not, however, so as to destroy the included animal, but rather to facilitate its egress. Those also of Coccinella bipunctata which I lately bred from the egg, as soon as hatched began to devour the unhatched ones around them, which they seemed to relish highly. I am inclined to believe, however, that this unnatural procedure was to be attributed to the circumstance of the female not having had it in her power to place her eggs in the midst of Aphides, their proper food.