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which we have no fewer than seventy-five native 

 species, and of which some are extremely common, 

 though remaining scarcely known except to the 

 specialist. The garments they fabricate are all so 

 small that we never notice them until the plant 

 they are on is subjected to a very close inspection. 

 One of the commonest forms may be found upon 

 the leaves of birch, elm, alder, etc. This is Coleophora 

 fuscidinella, of whose operations Mr. Alfred Sich, 

 who has made a special study of this group of 

 moths, has given a full and interesting account, 

 from the laying of the egg to the emergence of 

 the moth. He says : 



" The moth lays* her eggs on the under side of 

 the leaves, and the minute caterpillar after hatching 

 bores a hole in the leaf and makes, in the course of 

 a few days, a pear-shaped mine. Here it under- 

 goes its first moult or change of skin, and when 

 that is accomplished it sets to work to make its 

 first case. It moves round the mine and clears 

 out any portion of the parenchyma which would 

 come in the way of its case. It now cuts a slit 

 in both the upper and under cuticles of the leaf, 

 from the top to the bottom, on one side of the 

 portion it intends cutting out, and fastens these 

 two together at their edges with silk. It then 

 treats the opposite side in the same manner, taking 

 care, however, to leave a portion at the apex, and 

 at the base of the case, still attached to the leaf. 



" When the sides are completed the larva crawls 

 up to the top and severs the two cuticles at the 



