232 



INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



short in the fibre to be advantageously employed in 

 our manufactures. But the caterpillars to which we 

 have alluded, find it well adapted for their habita- 

 tions. 



The muff'-looking tent in which we find these in- 

 sects, does not require much trouble to construct; 

 for the caterpillar does not, like the clothes-moth 

 caterpillar, join the willow-cotton together, fibre by 

 fibre — it is contented with the state in which it 

 finds it on the seed. Into this it burrows, lines the 

 interior with a tapestry of silk, and then detaches the 

 whole from the branch where it was growing, and 

 carries it about with it as a protection while it is 

 feeding.* 



a, branch of the willow, with seed spike covered with cotton. 

 b, muff tents made of this cotton by c, the caterpillar. 



Reaumur, iii. p. 130. 



