254 INSECT LIFE 



xvin 



The length is about two centimetres. Outside it is 

 slightly wrinkled and coarse, but within the walls 

 are smoothed by a fine varnish. 



Rearing at home has enabled me to follow every 

 detail of the construction of this curious piece of 

 architecture — a real strong box which can brave all 

 the severity of the weather. First of all the larva 

 pushes away the remains of its feast into a corner of 

 the cell, or the compartment arranged for it in a box 

 with paper partitions. Having cleared a space, it 

 affixes to the walls of its abode threads of a beauti- 

 ful white silk, forming a spidery web which keeps 

 the heap of food-remains at a distance, and serves as 

 scaffolding for the work to come. 



This work consists of a hammock, suspended far 

 from anything that can defile it, in the centre of 

 threads stretched from wall to wall. Fine, beautiful 

 white silk is the only material used. The shape is 

 that of a sack open at one end, with a wide circular 

 orifice, closed at the other and ending in a point ; a 

 fisherman's basket gives a very fair idea of it. Then 

 the edges of the aperture are permanently kept apart 

 by numerous threads fastened to the neighbouring 

 walls. The tissue of the bag is extremely fine, 

 allowing all that the grub does to be seen. 



Things had been in this state since the previous 

 evening, when I heard the larva scratching in the 

 box. On opening, I found my captive busy 

 scratching the cardboard walls with the tips of its 

 mandibles, its body half out of the bag. Already it 

 had made considerable progress, and a heap of little 

 fragments were piled before the opening of the 

 hammock, to be utilised later. For lack of other 



