254 NATURAL HISTORY. [CH. XV. 



may be in a state of greater safety while assuming 

 first the form of chrysalis, and subsequently that of 

 a moth. 



The admiration which the ingenuity and proceed- 

 ings of the domestic moth inspired in the mind of 

 Reaumur did not prevent him from endeavouring to 

 discover the best means of destroying them, and of 

 rescuing our furniture and clothes from their de- 

 structive ravages. After various experiments made 

 with different substances, he gives the preference to 

 oil of turpentine, which, as he asserts, proves always 

 fatal to these insects. A few drops of this oil 

 spread upon sheets of paper were invariably found 

 to destroy them. Its smell threw them into convul- 

 sions, and covered with livid spots they were seen 

 to expire. It has also been found that the fumes of 

 tobacco will destroy the moth. 



But interesting as the proceedings of the domestic 

 moth may justly appear, they are still infinitely sur- 

 passed by the ingenuity and industry of the field or 

 rustic moth. This latter tribe construct their gar- 

 ments of materials collected from the leaves of 

 plants ; but before these materials can be used, it is 

 indispensable that they should pass through a pre- 

 paratory process, which may give them the lightness 

 and pliancy necessary to render them fit for their 

 clothing. Their proceedings are so extraordinary, 

 and in appearance so rational and w r ell considered ; 

 they are varied in a manner so suitable to the exi- 

 gency and circumstances of each particular case, 

 that their habits justly deserve to be detailed. 



These caterpillars are a species of leaf miners, 

 and are to be found in the greatest numbers in the 

 oak and the elm. The mantle which they fabricate 

 is nearly cylindrical in form, but the ends are not 

 similarly fashioned ; the fore end, where the head 

 of the caterpillar shows itself, is rounded, bent, and 

 hemmed ; the other end is formed of three triangular 

 pieces, which by their natural spring are brought 



