VIII LARVA AND NYMPH lo; 



ing over it — a state of being which is neither sleeping 

 nor waking, death nor Hfe, whence it will issue trans- 

 figured ten months later. Few cocoons are so complex 

 as is this one. Besides a coarse outer network, there 

 are three distinct layers, forming three cocoons, one 

 within another. Let us examine in detail these 

 various courses of the silken edifice. First comes 

 an open network, coarse and cobwebby, on which 

 the larva places itself and hangs as in a hammock 

 to work more easily at the cocoon properly so called. 

 This incomplete net, hastily spun to serve as a 

 scaffolding, is made with threads carelessly placed 

 and holding grains of sand, bits of earth, and re- 

 mains from the larva's banquet — cricket's thighs, still 

 banded with red, feet, and skull. The next covering, 

 which is the first of the real cocoon, is a felted 

 wrapper, light red, very fine, very supple, and some- 

 what crumpled. A few threads cast here and there 

 connect it with the preceding scaffolding and the 

 following covering. It forms a cylindrical purse, 

 with no opening and too large for what it contains, 

 thus causing the surface to wrinkle. Then comes 

 an elastic case, markedly smaller than the purse 

 which contains it, almost cylindrical, and rounded at 

 the upper end, toward which is turned the head of 

 the larva, while at the lower it makes a blunt cone. 

 Its colour is light red, except towards the lower end, 

 where the shade is darker. It is fairly firm, though 

 it yields to a moderate pressure, except in the 

 conical part, which resists and seems to contain a 

 hard substance. On opening this sheath it is seen 

 to be formed of two layers closely pressed together, 

 but easily separable. The outer is a silken felt 



