532 
HABITATIONS OF SPIDERS AND INSECTS. 
Fig. 271, Nest of Mygale. 
materials resembling the soil around ; and so little does it 
differ from this, as to be with difficulty distinguished, even 
by a person seeking to discover 
the Spider’s habitation. If an 
attempt is made to lift it, when 
the animal is within its excava¬ 
tion, the movement is resisted 
by the whole force of the Spider, 
which holds down the door, by 
fixing its claws into small holes 
on its under surface at the 
^ point most distant from the hinge, 
where its force may be most ad- 
yantageously applied. 
701. Among Insects, we find 
a great number of very curious 
processes instinctively performed in the construction of 
their habitations. Many Caterpillars form for themselves a 
protection, by rolling together portions of leaves, and attach¬ 
ing these by threads. In almost every garden, we may 
observe (at the proper season) nests of this kind, on the 
leaves of the Lilac or Gooseberry; and a similar one, repre¬ 
sented in fig. 272, is constructed in the leaves of the oak, by 
the caterpillar of a small nocturnal Butterfly, the Tortrix viri - 
dissima. The Larva of the little Clothes-moth, again, forms a 
sort of tubular sheath, composed of the filaments it detaches 
from the stuff through which 
it excavates its galleries; this 
sheath it is continually prolong¬ 
ing at one extremity ; and 
when, in consequence of the 
growth of the larva, its tube 
becomes too small for its com¬ 
fortable residence, it slits it 
down and lets-in a piece. The 
aquatic Larvae of the Caddice- 
flies (fig. 273, c), which are 
commonly known as Caddice- 
wormSy house themselves in straws, pieces of hollow stick, 
rushes, &c.; and those of some species glue together a 
number of minute stones, pieces of stick, small shells, &c., 
Fig. 272. —Nest of Tortrix. 
