usly through the foliage, and settled for a moment on his back. She
had reckoned without her host. His skin was indeed dangerously bright, but
it was sensitive in proportion.

Before she could establish herself, a vicious back-sweep of his horns
dislodged her.

Again and again she returned to the attack. Could she but pierce the skin,
her paralyzing venom would quickly do its work. Then the murderous task
would be easy. Eggs would be laid deep in the wound; grubs would hatch
from them, and batten luxuriously on their unwilling host, sapping his
strength, but cunningly avoiding his vitals, until they were full-fed. As
they turned to pupae he would die, and from caterpillar, or may be
chrysalis, there would then issue, in place of gorgeous butterfly, a host
of dingy hymenoptera. So would the race of ichneumons be preserved.

The little Emperor was fat and well-liking--an ideal _creche_ for young
ichneumons; but the little Emperor was very wide-awake.

The fly could find no foothold on him. He flung his armed head backwards
to his tail. He pawed the air with six fore feet. He shook himself in
paroxysms of fury. The fly cared little for the latter, but the horns
were hard and formidable. They covered his whole body with their sweep,
and struck with lightning speed.

At sundown she withdrew discomfited; the little Emperor's horns had served
him well.

His life was uneventful after this. When he had reached a length of two
inches, his growth ceased. He fed less ravenously and less frequently.
Three parts of his time he spent in contemplation of a special leaf. It
was hard to tell wherein lay the fascination. He had spun a silken carpet
on it. At rare intervals he tore himself away and snatched a hurried meal,
but he infallibly returned to its friendly shelter. He rested on its
mid-rib, facing the foot-stalk. His body was strongly arched and so
compressed that the ridges of its crowded segments recalled the pile of
velvet. His head and fore feet scarcely touched the surface. So he made
ready for the second change.

For this even the favourite leaf was discarded. He roamed about the tree
for days, seeking one that would suit his purpose. At last he found one,
hidden in a thick-set cluster. It hung free, but he secured it in such
fashion to its stem that a stiff breeze could hardly shake it. He
stretched silken ropes from its edges and passed them completely round the
foot-stalk. Then, on its under surface, he spun a litt