CH. III.] INSECTS WHICH FORM COCOONS. 77 



occupied by the tail of the larva. There can be no 

 doubt that this change of situation takes place be- 

 fore the change to the chrysalis occurs. The two 

 remarkable cases described by Messrs. Kirby and 

 Spence appear to us to be decidedly referrible to 

 this group of moths, although those authors merely 

 suspect them to belong to terrestrial animals. 



Of these, one is described as being the produc- 

 tion of an insect inhabitant of New-Holland, and as 

 being six inches long, and about four fifths of an 

 inch in diameter. It consists of a bag of thick 

 cinereous silken web, to which are fastened in a sex- 

 tuple series pieces of stick of about an inch long, 

 the end of one mostly resting upon the base of 

 another; between each series a space of about 

 three tenths of an inch intervenes, but at the apex 

 they all converge. This probably imitates the 

 branch or stem of some tree or plant in which the 

 leaves are linear, and diverge but little from the 

 stem. 



In a small periodical work on natural history, 

 published in 1799, entitled " The Naturalist's Pocket 

 Magazine," in which several productions of New- 

 Holland were first published, we find a description 

 of one of these cases and its caterpillar, under the 

 name of porcupine caterpillar of New South Wales. 

 It is described as a large grub, three inches long, 

 the three first rings being of a fine yellow colour, 

 beautifully marked with black or dusky oblong 

 spots, each having a pair of claws ; the other rings 

 are of a dirty pale yellow colour, except the ex- 

 tremity of the back, which is of the same spotted 

 yellow colour as the head and three first rings. 

 The case of the caterpillar resembled the finest 

 fleecy hosier^^ of a gray, ash, or mouse colour, 

 having the silky softness of a moleskin, the exte- 

 rior being fortified with small pieces of slight twigs 

 of different lengths. It had two apertures, which 

 the insect opened or closed at pleasure. It is stated, 

 G2 



