198 IXSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



a single incision to detach them. When it had in this 

 manner joined the two edges along one of the sides, it 

 inserted its head on the outside of the joining, first at one 

 end and then at the other, gnawing the fibres till that 

 whole side was separated. It proceeded in the same 

 manner with the other side, joining the edges before it 

 cut them ; and when it arrived at the last fibre, the only 

 remaining support of its now finished tent, it took the 

 precaution, before snipping it, to moor the whole to the 

 uncut part of the leaf by a cable of its own silk. Con- 

 sequently, when it does cut the last nervure, it is secure 

 from falling, and can then travel along the leaf, carrying 

 its tent on its back, as a snail does its shell. (J. E.) 



We have just discovered (Nov. 4th, 1829) upon the 

 nettle a tent of a very singular appearance, in consequence 

 of the materials of which it is made. The caterpillar 



a, The Ciiterpillar occupying the space it has eaten between the cuticle of the leaf; h, 

 A portion of the upper cuticle, cut out for the formation of the tent; c, The tent nearly 

 completed ; d. The perfect tent, with the caterpillar protruding its head. 



seems, indeed, to have proceeded exactly in the same 

 manner as those which we have described, mining first 

 between the two membranes of the leaf, and then uniting 

 these and cutting out his tent. But the tent itself looks 

 singular from being all over studded with the stinging 

 bristles of the nettle, and forming a no less formidable 

 coat of mail to the little inhabitant than the spiny hide 

 of the hedgehog. In feeding it does not seem to have 

 mined into the leaf, but to have eaten the whole of the 

 lower membrane, along with the entire pulp, leaving 



