100 TENT-MAKERS. 



Next for the tent-makers those who, not living in the 

 streets, set up their lighter tabernacles on the verdant spots 

 the green parks of our embowered city ; in other words, upon 

 the foliage of the oak. These also are caterpillars, belonging 

 to a family of small moths,* which employ the leaves of 

 various trees, not only for food, but also as material for the 

 construction of most curious and elegant abodes. " These 

 tentsf are from a quarter of an inch to an inch in length, and 

 usually about the breadth of an oat -straw. They are of the 

 colour of a withered leaf, being cut out, not from the whole 

 thickness, but artfully separated from the upper layer, as a 

 person might separate one of the leaves of paper from a piece 

 of pasteboard." For a minute description of the ingenious 

 shaping of the pieces employed, and the mode of their joining 

 and elevation, we must refer our reader to the details of 

 " Insect Architecture," t anc ^ l ns own observation, only adding, 

 that when completed the constructor and occupier of this 

 pretty pavilion carries it upright on his back, as a snail its 

 shell; and witli body thus shaded and protected perambulates 

 the leaf on which he feeds. Tents of this description are plen- 

 tiful through the summer on the elm, the hawthorn, alder, 

 pear, and other fruit trees. 



Next to these, and much more conspicuous on a survey of 

 our insect city, come the silken hammocks and their luxurious 

 occupants and weavers. These are also caterpillars those of 



t Vignette. \ Insect Arch. p. 225 ; also Reaumcr. 



