Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/491

CAT pondweed ; the other upon the Lt'iitiarfa, or duck-meat : the first of these is the larger 5 and, as its operations are more easily distin- guished, it is better known than the other. Though strictly an aqua- iic animal, it does not delight in the water, and is extremely soli- citous to avoid wetting itself. It is produced in the same manner as the land-caterpillar, from an which the parent butterfly deposits on the leaf of a certain plant, out of which the insett, as soon as it is hatched, gnaws a piece of a cir- cular form. This it carries to ano- ther part of the same leaf, and places it so as to construct a cavity in which it may safely lodge. It then fastens down the piece to the larger leaf, by silk of its own spin- ning, leaving holes at certain dis- tances, through which it may push its head, and prey upon ike ad- joining leaves : these are natural ly so smooth, that they are seldom wetted ; and, as often as its habi- tation becomes too small, the insect makes others successively, each being adapted to its periodical size, till it undergoes the usual changes into a butterfly. In this state, as soon as its wings are dry, it leaves the water, never to return again. Woon-CATEKPILLAUS, EllhfT' tyivestres, are thus denominated, because they live, contrary to the generality of caterpillars, under the bark, in the trunk, branches, and roots of trees, and sometimes in the body of the fruit. They are produced from eggs deposited on the Surface : and eat their way far- ther, as soon as they arc hatched. Some of these caterpillars leave their abode in order to change into their chrysalis, and thence into their butterfly state 5 but most of themreinain thu'e ; and pass through CAT [457 all their changes. These ii>see : ts would increase to an immense num- ber, were they not destroyed in a similar manner with the common caterpillars, by a species of worms, that insinuate themselves into the fruit or tree inhabited by the for- mer, which successively become their pre v. Various experiments have been tried o extirpate these pernicious vermin ; but none has been attended with more success than that of lighting small hies near trees, about sun-set, into which they will eag< fly fly; and thus, by burning their wings, meet with inevitable de- struction. Cathartics. See Purgatives. CATMINT, or Nep, the Afc- peta Cataria, L. a native plant growing on pastures and hedges, in a calcareous soil — near Bungay, Suffolk ; Wick Clifts ; on the beach at Rampside ; Low Furness ; Dud- ley Castle, &c. Its stalk is a yard high, and branched ; the leaves are of a velvet-like softness ; die blos- soms white, with a tinge of red, spotted with purple, and appear in July. This is a hardy plant, and easily propagated by seeds ; it has a bitter taste, and strong smell, resembling a mixture of mint and pennyroyal. An infusion of the. catmint is re- commended as a good cephalic, and deemed a specihe in cllloi'Otic cases : two ounces of the expv juice arc usually given for a dose Cats are exceedingly fond of ; .< . especially when it is withered. Mr. I! w mentions, that he had trans- planted the common catmint from, the fields into his garden; but the cats B<*on destroyed it : those plants. however, which came up from the seed-;, uniformly escaped 5 and thus he found the old proverb veii tied, namely,