200 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



labour. M. de la Voye mentions small granular bodies of 

 a greenish colour, placed irregularly on the exterior of the 

 structure, which he calls eggs ; but we agree with Eeaumur 

 in thinking it more probable that they are small fragments 

 of moss or lichen intermixed with the stone : in fact, we 

 have ascertained that they are so. (J. E.) 



\Mien these little architects prepare for their change 

 into chrysalides before becoming moths, they attach their 

 tents securely to the stone over which they have hitherto 

 rambled, by spinning a strong mooring of silk, so as not 

 only to fill up every interstice between the main entrance 

 .of the tent and the stone, but also weaving a close, thick 

 curtain of the same material, to Shut up the entire aperture. 



It is usual for insects which form similar structure to 

 issue, when they assume the winged state, from the broader 

 end of their habitation ; but our little stone-mason proceeds 

 in a different manner. It leaves open the apex of the C(5ne 

 from the first, for the purpose of ejecting its excrements, 

 and latterly it enlarges this opening a little, to allow of a 

 free exit when it acquires wings ; taking care, however, 

 to spin over it a canopy of silk, as a temporary protection, 

 which it can afterwards burst through without difficulty. 

 The moth itself is very much like the common clothes-moth 

 in form, but is of a gilded-bronze colour, and considerably 

 smaller. 



In the same locality, M. de Maupertuis found a nume- 

 rous brood of small caterpillars, which employed grains of 

 stone, not, like the preceding, for building feeding-tents, 

 but for their cocoons. This caterpillar was of a brownish- 

 grey colour, with a white line along the back, on each side 

 of which were tufts of hair. The cocoons which it built 

 were oval, and less in size than a hazel-nut, the grains of 

 the stone being skilfully woven into irregular meshes of 

 silk. 



In June, 1829, we found a numerous encampment of the 

 tent-building caterpillars described by MM. de la Voye 

 and Eeaumur, on the brick wall of a garden at Blackheath, 

 Kent. (J. E.) They were so very small, however, and 

 so like the lichen on the wall, that had not our attention 



