We have but little experience, in our favoured land, of the more extensive domestic destructions wrought by larvæ. But in hot countries they become formidable, by reason of their numbers. In India,[F] particularly during the rainy season, the interior of the houses swarms with them; some climb the walls, some ascend the table, some feast on the viands, and altogether, by their numbers and appearance, they produce a degree of disgust and loathing at food, which cannot be overcome for a long time by fresh residents. We may mention, before concluding this part of our subject, that of those that do annoy us domestically, some have appetites for very strange kinds of food, some love wine, some vinegar, some butter and cheese; some revel in a pot of preserves, some attack our meat, and one is mentioned by Réaumur as delighting in _chocolate_! If surprise be expressed that we have dwelt so long upon the eating propensities of larvæ, let it be remembered that it was formerly said at p. 94, that the principal duty of the larva, so long as it lived, was _to eat_. It is born often only to eat as much as possible, and to grow as large as possible within a given time; and in obedience to this principle, we find larvæ with the sharpest of sharp appetites embark in their career of existence, eating from their birth, all the way along to their final change. It is therefore, obviously, a very important part of the larva's history of which we have been speaking for some pages past. Considering the fact to have been now brought into sufficient prominence, we shall proceed to notice the rate at which larvæ grow, and the actual quantities of food some of them devour. Let us speak of the last first. [Illustration: _Silk-worm Moth and her Eggs._]