TAILORS 183 



the shears, the making of neat seams, and the 

 finishing off and fitting. These forms of disguise 

 are chiefly found among the moths and beetles, 

 the former adapting foreign materials to their use, 

 and the latter relying chiefly upon their own 

 substance. 



Among the best known of these lepidopterous 

 tailors — from the fact that figures of their " cases " 

 have frequently appeared in natural-history books 

 — are the caterpillars of the genus Psyche. These, 

 as soon as they quit the egg, spin a silken jacket, 

 attaching to the exterior bits of the food-plant 

 which they have bitten off. These pieces are 

 attached by one end only so that they overlap. 

 The one suit of clothes serves them until they 

 become moths — in the case of the females all their 

 lives. As the caterpillar increases in size it adds 

 to the length and breadth of the case, which serves 

 also as a cocoon for the chrysalis. The males 

 develop wings and are active fliers, but the female 

 is a helpless, wingless and legless, worm-like creature, 

 and has to remain in her case till death. Some 

 of the allied species make more remarkable cases, 

 so that they resemble little snails of the genus 

 Zlausilia ; others are like the shells of Helix, for 

 which they have been sent to this country by 

 collectors. 



Somewhat similar are the clothes made by 

 various species of small moths that are collectively 

 known as Clothes Moths. There are at least three 

 distinct species, with different habits, that are 



