HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 269 



the genial breath of spring, and begin to feed with greediness upon the 

 young leaves that surround their habitation, which, as they soon greatly 

 increase in size, they find it necessary to enlarge. One might fear that a 

 structure formed of such materials would at this period be sadly damaged 

 by the growth of the young shoots and leaves of the twigs which it encloses ; 

 but the inhabitants, as if to guard against such an accident, have gnawed 

 off all the buds within their dweUing, and thus secured themselves from 

 this inconvenience.^ 



Tlie nest of the larvae of another species of moth, the Cnethocampa pro- 

 cessionea, unfortunately not a native of this country, to which, on account 

 of their singular manners, that will be detailed to you in a subsequent 

 letter, Reaumur has given tiie title of j^rocessionary caterpillars, is some- 

 what different in its construction from that just described, though formed 

 of the same material. As the caterpillars which fabricate it feed upon the 

 leaves of the oak, it is always found upon this tree, attached not to the 

 branches but the trunk, sometimes at a considerable height from the 

 ground. In shape it resembles an irregular knob or protuberance, and the 

 silk which composes it being of a grey colour, at a distance it would be 

 taken for a mass of lichens. Sometimes this nest is upwards of eighteen 

 inches long, and six broad, rising in the middle about four inches from the 

 surface of the tree. Between the trunk and the silken covering, a single 

 hole is left which serves for the entrance and exit of the inhabitants. 

 These differ in their manners from those last mentioned. While very 

 young they have no fixed habitation, contenting themselves with a succes- 

 sion of different temporary camps until they have attained two-thirds of 

 their growth. Then it is they unite their labours in spinning the net just 

 described ; and in this they continue to reside in harmony until they 

 become perfect insects, assuming in it even the state of chrysalis.'^ 



Habitations similar, as to their general structure, to the above, though 

 differing in several minute circumstances, are formed by the larvae of 

 several other moths, as of Porthesia phccorrhcea, Clisiocampa neustria, &c., 

 as well as those of Vanessa To, Mclitcea Ciiixia, and some other butter- 

 Hies^, and even of some saw-flies (Serrifera), which, however, have each a 

 separate silken covering. But as it would be tedious to describe these par- 

 ticularly, I pass on to the habitations formed by insects in their perfect 

 state, which have in view the education of their young as well of self-pre- 

 servation, describing in succession those of ants, bees, ivasps, and ivkite 

 ants. 



Of these the most simple in their structure are the nests of different 

 kinds oi ants, many of which externally present the appearance of hillocks 

 more or less conical, formed of earth or other substances. 



The nest of the large red or horse ants {F. rufa), which are common in 

 woods, at the first aspect seems a very confused mass. Exteriorly it is a 

 conical mount composed of pieces of straw, fragments of wood, littlu 

 stones, leaves, grain ; in short, of any portable materials within their reach. 



1 Reaum. ii. 128. 



3 Ibid. 179. 



3 The habits of a Mexican species of butterfly {Eitcheira sncialis Westw.), of 

 ■which the larv» construct a strong white parchment-like bag, in which they reside 

 and undergo their transformations, have been described by Mr. Westwood in the 

 Trans, of the Ent. Soc. qf London, vi. pi. vi. 



