202 INSECT ARTIZANS AND THEIR WORK 



a postage-stamp is attached to its fellows in a sheet 

 of stamps. One can be removed from the centre 

 of the sheet by a little pressure. The perforations 

 in the leaf are short gashes instead of the dots of 

 the stamp-sheet. Here, again, it will be seen, is 

 an anticipation by nature of a human invention. 



Having all but separated his disc, our grub pro- 

 ceeds to weave an exceedingly fine tissue of silk 

 from the edges of the disc, making a complete floor 

 beneath himself. This appears to us to be an 

 exceedingly clever piece of work, much more so 

 than the weaving of the oval cocoon cleverly con- 

 structed by the caterpillars of many moths. There 

 the spinning is in all directions, and the caterpillar 

 has room to move as he pleases to effect it. In 

 the beginning of that work, as we have shown in 

 our first chapter, the caterpillar attaches threads 

 to all available points to form an outer scaffold, 

 inside which he can fashion his egg-shaped cocoon 

 with comparative ease. In the case of our Maple 

 Leaf-cutter not one of his threads may extend 

 beyond the cut edges of his disc, or his purpose 

 will be defeated. The fabric to be woven is a 

 flat tissue, and this part of the performance may be 

 likened to a weaver lying in bed and weaving a 

 complete bottom-sheet under his body. 



The grub is equal to his task ; for the next we 

 know is that the disc has separated from the rest 

 of the cuticle, and is now the upper side of a circular 

 flat bag, the lower side being of closely woven silk, 

 and the grub lies snug between. How the separa- 



