390 TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



larva hangs securely. Now the creature is ready to 

 feed. The behavior varies in this act, a good deal. 

 For example, here is a sketch (Fig. 123) of a worm 

 feeding upon the white pine. You may see the stay- 

 line by which it hangs to one leaf, while it reaches 

 to an adjoining needle, bites it off, and " sits " erect in 

 its house comfortably chewing off the end which is con- 

 tinually shored upward by the two pairs of pro-legs 

 that appear above the sac. This specimen made a 

 very comical figure, and reminded mc, when I drew 

 it, of the attitude of a squirrel feeding on a nut. 



"But more frequently the worm feeds without sepa- 

 rating the leaf from the point of suspension. In the 

 sketch, for example (Fig. 121), which I use to illustrate 

 the attitude in spinning, we have the same position 

 precisely as that taken when eating. The caterpillar 

 has made itself flist to the under part of the leaf, as you 

 see, and is gnawing at the edge, moving its head around 

 as it eats. When the sketch was taken the leaf was 

 nearly consumed." 



" Can thee tell how the caterpillar is held within its 

 house ?" asked Aunt Hannah. " Does it lash its body 

 to the inside ?" 



" 1 never saw a fastening of any sort in the cocoons 

 which I have opened. The larva can turn itself around 

 easily in its case, and go out at either end, although 

 the head is generally upward. It clings to the inside 

 of the case with the hooks upon its hinder feet, and so 

 tenaciously that I have never been able to force one out, 

 always being checked by the fear of tearing the creatin-e 



